KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): The allegedly misappropriated RM18 billion goods and services tax (GST) input tax credit is not 'lost', as it was entered into the Consolidated Fund based on the Treasury's decision, said former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi.

"It was put into the fund on the instruction of the Treasury (under the Ministry of Finance). I was not the Finance Minister, so I was not aware (of the movement of funds). (However,) the money should be seen as being in the fund. If it [was] used for wrongful reasons or against the Treasury's instructions, then that is theft," he added.

Zahid told reporters at the Parliament lobby that the credit was used for projects as per the annual Budget or a supplementary budget, it can be debated in Parliament.

Yesterday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that there was a total of RM19.4 billion input tax credit to businesses till May 31 this year since 2015, but only RM1.5 billion remained in the trust fund where GST refunds were supposed to be deposited by the government.

Lim had alleged that refunds were put into a special trust fund but later "stolen" to be deposited into a consolidated fund to be spent "freely".

"The credit was never withdrawn from the consolidated fund and put into the trust fund as expected," Lim said, asserting that previous Treasury Secretary-General under the Barisan Nasional government was "definitely in the know" but it was not clear who else was involved.

Meanwhile, Zahid said it was not right to give a wrong perception of the previous government because it was also supported by the same government officers then.

"They (the new government) must be fair to those who are loyal to the government of the day. They should stop the blame game. If you cannot solve the problem, let us take over the government, and we will resolve it," he added.