Rafidah asks Inland Revenue if it taxed Najib's RM2.6b

Former minister Rafidah Aziz has asked the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to clarify if it had known about caretaker prime minister Najib Razak's infamous RM2.6 billion donation, and how the department had dealt with it at the time.

In an open letter to IRB today on her Facebook, the veteran Umno member said she had once been asked about the alleged donation from the Arabs, and if the prime minister had ever been taxed on the amount that had been deposited into his private bank accounts.

“I have no idea... My friends and I became very curious.

"We would like to ask, and can IRB please clarify and explain to the people at large, is the donation given to the prime minister, and transferred into his personal account, taxable?” she asked.

In her posting, Rafidah also questioned if Najib is a registered tax exempt charitable entity, and if he operated the account himself.

“Are donations not regarded as income and therefore taxable on the recipient?

“If the donation received by the prime minister was ‘tax exempt’, how was this allowed by IRB?”

On July 3, 2015, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Malaysian investigators had traced nearly US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) of deposits into Najib's account.

Najib responded denying he had ever used public funds for personal gain, and threatened to sue WSJ. His lawyers have not done so till today, citing various reasons.

The government subsequently came up with an explanation that the sum was a donation from wealthy Arabs.

The following year, the US Department of Justice filed suits to seize assets it claims had been acquired in the US using funds allegedly siphoned from 1MDB, and made detailed claims about the money trail in its court documents.

'Will IRB accept donation excuse?'

In 2016, IRB chief executive officer Mohd Shukor Mahfar when first asked about the matter, said political donations are not subjected to tax, but did not elaborate.

Rafidah said since the tax department was allegedly notorious for coming down hard on ordinary citizens over back taxes, the IRB would have sought clarification from the prime minister on the exact nature of the said donation, asking if it has done so.

She then quoted attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali as saying no reason had been given as to why the donation had been made, as it is a matter between Najib and the Saudi royal family.

“Is it possible for just any ordinary Malaysian, to somehow obtain millions from someone, somewhere … and then declare it as a 'donation', without the need to give the reason for the donations, and merely cite it is a 'private arrangement' between the donor and the recipient?

“Will the IRB simply take the individuals' word for it, and not investigate in order to verify?

“Would those alleged donations be taxed? Can the IRB give an answer?” she wrote. - Mkini