Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General & MP for Bagan Lim Guan Eng in Kuala Lumpur on 14.7.2019:
Paying Taxes Complies With Tax Laws But Does Not Absolve A Corrupted Entity From Any Criminal Wrongdoing, If So Then Jho Low or Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Can Pay Their Taxes And Not Fear Any Criminal Prosecution.
MCA President Wee Ka Siong should stop pretending to be stupid, by saying that Koperasi Jayadiri Sdn Bhd (Kojadi) paying taxes last year to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), proves that the RM15 million Kojadi received from Yayasan 1MDB was legal. No self-respecting democratic country in the world, would allow you to whitewash laundered funds or sanctify illegal money as legitimate, merely because you paid taxes on those laundered or illegal money.
Wee was quoted as asking in the MCA-owned paper, The Star on 12 July 2019, “how the money Kojadi received from Yayasan 1MDB was considered illegal when RM1.03million was already paid as income tax?”. This is my reply – paying taxes complies with tax laws but does not absolve a corrupted entity from any criminal wrongdoing, if so then Jho Low or Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak can easily pay their taxes and not fear any criminal prosecution.
Now Wee is upset that I did not believe Wee, but chose to believe and praised Kojadi suspended Chairman Datuk Ng Peng Hay 3 times, whom Wee had called Ng a liar. Wee made his claim that Kojadi need not return the RM15 million on the basis of a letter from Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC) earlier this year that 1MDB is still under investigation.
However, Wee is dishonest by not mentioning that on June 21 2019, MACC filed civil forfeiture applications including freezing their bank accounts, against 41 individuals and entities on those connected with Najib/1MDB. According to newspaper reports, Ng was worried that Kojadi would be next to be subjected to similar action and have its bank account frozen by MACC, and wanted to return the back the RM15 million. However, Ng was stopped from doing so by Wee who used MCA’s outsize influence in Kojadi to interfere in Kojadi’s matters.
On 3 July 2019, Ng’s worse fears were realised when MACC froze the relevant Kojadi’s bank account. If Kojadi was not required to return money to Yayasan 1MDB, then why was the relevant Kojadi’s bank account frozen by MACC? That is why I believed Ng Peng Hay over Wee, even though Ng was a former MCA Melaka State Assemblyman, because Ng rightfully wanted to return the money to Yayasan 1MDB and was punished for wanting to do so, by being suspended by the MCA-controlled Kojadi Board of Directors.
Further I had issued a statement on 12 July, that Yayasan 1MDB had received RM6.1 million in payment from funds returned back by other entities. I had mentioned Kojadi had still not returned a single cent of the RM15 million given by Yayasan 1MDB. This was subsequently confirmed by Wee. The question to Wee then is, if other entities that received funding from Yayasan 1MDB can return the money voluntarily on their own, why not Kojadi?
Like the racist and extremist UMNO, MCA leaders tries to play with chauvinistic sentiments to cover up their own parties’ involvement in corrupt acts, by belittling efforts made by the government and MACC to recover such stolen wealth from those that received monies from 1MDB. BN should not sacrifice ordinary people or voters with no political links or connections just to save themselves.
We leave it to MACC to conduct investigations and take appropriate action, but clearly entities that are closely connected and directly linked politically to BN parties have a moral and ethical obligation to return back the money. Government funds should first and foremost not be used to fund political activities or benefit entities close or connected to them.
MCA is using its MCA-controlled The Star and its influence in the biggest Chinese mainstream media to exert pressure on me to stop me trying to get back 1MDB funds to help pay back the more than RM51 billion 1MDB debt. To the The Star and biggest Chinese mainstream media backing MCA, I would like to quote from former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji,
“In fighting corruption we must ‘first fight the tiger, then the wolf’. We mustn’t go easy on the ‘tigers’; I’ve prepared 100 coffins here, 99 are for corrupt officials, 1 is for me, I’m ready to perish together in this fight if it brings the nation long-term economic stability and the public’s trust in our government”
LIM GUAN ENG
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼国会议员林冠英于2019年7月14日在吉隆坡发表的文告:
依法纳税并不代表能为任何刑事的贪污罪刑开脱，如果纳税就能为贪污开脱，那么刘特佐及纳吉只要轻而易举纳税就不必害怕被刑事检控。
马华总会长魏家祥请别再装傻，竟然称自立合作社去年有纳税给内陆税收局，证明自立合作社从1MDB基金会获得的1500万令吉是合法资金。全世界没有一个自重的民主国家可以容许因为你将黑钱或非法资金报税及纳税，就可以将黑钱漂白或将非法资金圣洁化为合法资金。
马华所拥有的英文报章《星报》于2019年7月12日引述魏家祥所言：“自立合作社从1MDB基金会收到的资金怎么可能会被认为是非法，这可是有缴纳103万令吉所得税的呢？”。以下是我的回应 – 依法纳税并不代表能为任何刑事的贪污罪刑开脱，如果纳税就能为贪污开脱，那么刘特佐及纳吉只要轻而易举纳税就不必害怕被刑事检控。
如今魏家祥失望地称我不相信他，选择相信及三次赞扬被魏家祥称为骗子及被自立合作社开除主席一职的拿督黄炳火。魏家祥还以今年初反贪会关于1MDB尚在调查的信件为依据，声称自立合作社的1500万令吉不必归还。
然而，魏家祥非常不老实，对于2019年6月21日反贪会立安发出民事充公申请，包括冻结41个组织与个人的银行账户这件事实避而不谈。根据报章报导，黄炳火担忧自立合作社将会是反贪会对付及冻结银行账户的下一个组织，因此主动要归还1500万令吉。然而，魏家祥却运用马华凌驾于自立合作社的影响力去影响自立合作社的事宜，阻止黄炳火这么做。
2019年7月3日，黄炳火所担惊受怕的事终于发生，自立合作社的银行账户被反贪会冻结。若自立合作社没有被要求归还1MDB基金会的资金，为何反贪会要冻结其相关银行账户？好人不做正事，坏人永远当道，这是为何我宁可相信黄炳火多过魏家祥，因为黄炳火要将1MDB基金会的资金归还是做对的正事，但却因为做对的事受到惩罚，被马华掌控的自立合作社董事会革除。
再者，我于7月12日也发出官方文告透露目前有其他组织已经将总共610万令吉的资金归还1MDB基金会。我也在上述文告透露自立合作社仍没将1MDB基金会给予的1500万令吉资金归还，一毛钱也还没收到。魏家祥自己也承认这一点。这里必须问魏家祥，为何其他组织可以自愿归还来自1MDB基金会的资金，但是自立合作社却不肯这么做？
就像种族主义及极端主义的巫统一样，马华领袖企图操弄沙文主义以掩盖他们自己的政党参与贪污的行为，轻蔑地看待政府及反贪会针对1MDB丑闻的追收国家财富行动。国阵不应该只为了自救而牺牲没有政治关系的百姓或选民利益。
我们就让反贪会独立进行调查及采取应有的行动，但是任何与国阵成员党有亲密联系或直接有关的组织无论是在道德及操守的义务上都理应将资金归还。政府的资金不应该率先用以资助政治活动或让与相关政党亲密关联的组织获利。
马华运用其掌控的《星报》及其在全国最大中文主流媒体的影响力企图向我施压，阻止我追讨1MDB资金款项作为偿还510亿令吉的债务。对于《星报》及全国最大中文主流媒体力挺马华，谨此，我要以中国前总理朱镕基的至理名言作结：
“反腐败要先打老虎后打狼，对老虎绝不能姑息养奸，准备好一百口棺材，也有我的一口，无非是个同归于尽，却换来国家的长久稳定发展和老百姓对我们事业的信心。 “
林冠英