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KUCHING: The Sarawak state government today dismissed a claim by former finance minister Wong Soon Koh that it agreed to accept a hugely reduced payment of Petronas’ state sales tax on petroleum products obtained from the state.
Assistant state law minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said Wong’s claim was “completely false and misleading.” He stated that the anticipated oil and gas tax for 2019 and 2020 totaling RM6.775 billion was reduced to RM2 billion.
Hasidah said the deal required Petronas to pay the 2019 tax in full to the Sarawak government, which amounts to around RM2 billion, excluding legal penalties and interest for late payment.
The precise quantity is still under calculation.
“The SST for 2020 remains at 5% of the sale value of petroleum products. Assessment notices have only been issued for the first quarter of 2020. There is no agreement yet for the reduction of the SST for the current year 2020, ”it said in a statement.
She said the RM2 billion amount excluded SST from other oil companies such as Shell, Murphy Oil, Pertamina and others operating in the state. The amount of SST to be raised in 2020 has not yet been determined.
Wong, who is chairman of Parti Bersatu Sarawak, a local opposition party, said the state anticipated RMB 6.775 billion in oil and gas tax revenue for the two years 2019 and 2020.
“We have now discovered that the Sarawak government has to settle for a very small sum of just RM2 billion instead of RM6.775 billion,” he said.
He said that Prime Minister Abang Johari Openg, who is also the minister of state finance, should explain how the state government would explain the budget deficit for 2019 and 2020 in light of the big drop in revenue.
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