Pua said some of the amount has been already been recouped and more were being pursued, but declined to disclose the estimated savings so far. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

PETALING JAYA, Sept 24 — The RM20 billion of “savings” from tackling corruption that Pakatan Harapan asserted was possible in its shadow budget last year is being realised in part, said DAP’s Tony Pua.

The special officer to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said some of the amount has been already been recouped and more were being pursued, but declined to disclose the estimated savings so far.

“But you will see the numbers during the Budget (tabling on Nov 2),” he told the Malay Mail during an event commemorating Malaysia Day in Kampung Tunku here.

The amorphous figure was among the standouts of PH’s shadow budget presented last year to support its policy proposals such as the elimination of the Goods and Services Tax in favour of the Sales and Services Tax.

This was delivered via the zero-rating of the GST on June 1 and the introduction of the so-called SST 2.0 on Sept 1. The GST was also legally repealed.

However, the move is set to reduce the government’s revenue by half of what it would have collected under the GST.

The PH government has cancelled at least three major infrastructure projects previously awarded to Chinese firms owing to suspicious payment structures,

It is seeking to terminate others such as the East Coast Rail Link for the same reason as well as a professed lack of funds now.

Lim is due to table the Budget for 2019, but this will again be a deficit budget.

His predecessor, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, tabled a RM280 billion Budget 2018 last year, which he dubbed the “Mother of all Budgets”.