As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on July 03, 2015
1. One of the greatest achievements of Malaysia is in the collection of taxes. Malaysians willingly pay taxes. They fear legal action being taken against them. They fear more the raids on their businesses and residences by the income tax authorities. I know this because I was raided when I was expelled from the party and was working as a medical practitioner.
2. They got hold of my cheque stubs and nothing I said would convince them that the money in my account was not all mine. In the end I had to pay more than twice what they claimed I had not declared.
3. The income tax people are always on the lookout for people who live beyond their means. They would raid these people and would force them to pay additional tax should they feel that the culprit had not paid up fully on their wealth.
4. But of late we see some selectivity in the focus of the income tax people.
5. For example the step son of the Prime Minister is reported to have spent hundreds of millions of USD or Ringgit buying luxury residences in London, New York and Hollywood. He also expended many millions to finance the production of the film “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
6. When the Prime Minister’s Office claimed it was inherited money the brothers of Najib protested. Their father was not rich and did not leave hundreds of millions of Ringgit to the family. Even Najib had to admit that Tun Razak did not have such money to leave to his family. So where did this money come from?
7. It was claimed that the money was from business. If he made so much money from business he would have paid income tax. Has the income tax people investigated him regarding his business profits. How much tax had he paid. It is a secret of course. But I hope it is not a cover-up.
8. Then there is Jho Low. He bought a bank for 260 million US dollars. Where did he get the money. Is it borrowed? Did he sell the bank and paid taxes on the profit.
9. He also bought luxury flats in New York and Hollywood. Where did the hundreds of millions he paid for all these come from? Has he paid tax on them?
10. I believe executives of 1MDB and its subsidiaries are paid high salaries. Have they paid taxes on their earnings?
11. I understand that the Prime Minister as adviser to 1MDB is not paid anything. He is paid the Prime Minister’s salary, which I know is far smaller than what business executives get. But the Government pays allowances, the electricity and water bills, transportation, home, etc. So the salary can all be saved and spent.
12. But still the lavish lifestyle must cost a packet. It must be more than what I saved after 29 years in the Government.
13. It is a secret of course. But I just want to ask, has the income tax people investigated the source of the money and the tax paid.
14. We talk about equality before the law. In this country even the rulers are subject to certain laws. It is the essence of justice. We must be equal before the laws and we must be seen to be equal. Everyone who should be investigated by Government agencies must be investigated. There should be no discrimination.
