The government will not look into claims by an international organisation that Malaysia had suffered illicit financial outflows in excess of US$291 billion due to corruption and mismanagement between 2000 and 2008.
International Trade and Industry deputy minister Mukhriz Mahathir said he does not see the relevance of the figures quoted in a recent Global Financial Integrity report.
The financial watchdog had listed Malaysia as the fifth-highest of countries that have lost public monies due to bad governance.
"We do not see the need to look into it. If you go through the report, they have made quite a few bizarre claims against several countries," he told a press conference after the launch of Google Malaysia's new office in Kuala Lumpur today.
"Going by Bank Negara's figures, we know how much exactly is going out so you can hardly consider those figures (from GFI) as factual."
Announcement contradicted
This is only the second time the government has responded to the allegations outlined in the GFI report since the information was released last week.
Mukhriz's answer however contradicts the announcement made by deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim, who said yesterday that Bank Negara are conducting a thorough probe into GFI's claims and that the public can expect a reply soon.
Lim nevertheless also questioned the veracity of the report, raising doubts over the international financial watchdog's reasons for releasing their information only now despite having monitored the situation since 2000.
“It was such a long, long time ago. If they were to state this information and ask back in 2005, then okay. But now?,” Lim said.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak had earlier declined to comment when asked about the GFI report last Friday, leaving it to Bank Negara to respond with “more specific comments” to the allegations.
- Malaysiakini
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