Yeah. You read that right. I spent a good chunk of after lunch trying to digest that the great LOFSA chairman was actually saying that. He was literally providing the audience with structures which blatantly back treaty shopping and the use of conduits for purposes of eliminating withholding tax. Who said the authorities were not business friendly? And I didn’t even have to pay $250,000 to turn the word “evasion” to “avoidance”. Extra! Extra! Below 2 grand (ringgit, mind you) to turn the word “avoidance” to “government endorsed”! Get it while it’s hot!
But, having said that, I wouldn’t hold my breath that the Inland Revenue will actually swallow that. They probably kept quiet for multifolded reasons. One, they were asleep during the presentation. Two, the fella was a Dato’, so due respect must be given. Three, Labuan, despite being practically a ghost town since its inception as a “financial hub” is probably still the darling of yeah, okay, we’ll buy into your “we’re not a low tax jurisdiction” crap just so we can say Malaysia pun boleh rebrand a deserted island financial hub. Fine. Cars are cheap there. But personally, it would really help this overexcised blogger if they could also swim across the South China Sea over to the peninsular. How about we look into that, Dato’?
Anyway, I digress. Four, they can always say that “minutes conference statements are fairy tales conjured to give you that warm fuzzy feeling before we send you a heart stopping six year but get ready in 7 days audit notice not binding on us.”
Five. There are foreign observers and fellow presenters. Why not dazzle them a little with some flying pigs?
All I have to say about that particular session, which kinda overshadowed some serious gaps in… well, everything for the second day, is that, we Malaysian taxpayers should take today’s “facts” with some salt. A whole bucket of it. And if your kidneys konk, don’t worry… go to one of those tax financed free GH’s all around the country.
