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Friday, October 3, 2014

Controversial IRB bill to be tabled in Parliament without changes, says lawmaker

Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen says the amendments to the IRB Act which were withdrawn in June are emeging again unchanged. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 3, 2014.Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen says the amendments to the IRB Act which were withdrawn in June are emeging again unchanged. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 3, 2014.
The contentious Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia Bill which was withdrawn from Parliament last June after vociferous protests from tax experts and opposition MPs over its proposed amendments will be tabled in Parliament next week without any changes.
PKR's Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen discovered the latest development this morning after finding out that the bill had been posted on the Parliament website.
"We downloaded a copy and immediately cross-referenced the new bill with the previous bill. We found that they are exactly the same.
Under the previous bill, the government had planned to propose the set-up of an investment panel within the IRB that would allow the finance minister, who is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to appoint six out of the seven board members of the panel.
Critics charged that if the bill was passed, it would allow the proposed investment panel to make investments using taxpayers’ money to acquire stocks, bonds, debts and property assets that are deemed fit by the finance minister.
The current law allows the IRB to invest monies collected on a short-term basis with Bank Negara Malaysia or licensed banks, or in government bonds, mortage papers or commercial notes before getting transferred to the Treasury for disbursement to the various ministries.
Following intense criticisms, Putrajaya withdrew the bill to conduct further reviews to the proposed amendments.
Wong said today when the bill was withdrawn at the last parliamentary sitting, lawmakers had expected Putrajaya to remove the contentious parts of the bill before retabling it in Parliament next week.
"To have it presented again in the exact form is a mockery to all. It also reflects poorly on the government’s credibility in engaging and listening to the rakyat’s concerns," he said.
Wong, who had sounded the alarm bells over the nature of the bill since last June, had wanted the government to reveal the draft of the bill to allow opposition MPs time to prepare.
He had sent a letter to Najib on September 5, requesting for the amended copy to the bill to be revealed, only to receive a reply two weeks ago from the Ministry of Finance that it had nothing to do with the request.
- TMI

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