Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has given his statement to police over claims that the previous BN government had misappropriated RM16 billion of arrears in income tax and real property gains tax refunds.

Lim gave his statement to police at his office in Putrajaya yesterday evening from 3 pm to 5 pm.

The minister had first revealed the arrears on Aug 22 with a statement.

He claimed that as of May 31, the tax refund trust fund only had a balance of RM1.486 billion, which means there was a shortfall of RM14.56 billion.

The unpaid refunds are for 1.6 million taxpayers comprising individuals, companies, societies and foundations with the cases dating back to more than six years.

Former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah had sat on the Finance Ministry's Cash Management Committee which is alleged to have not allocated sufficient money for the trust fund despite requests from the Inland Revenue Board to do so.

"What was done by the previous government can be considered as account falsification and misappropriation of credit refunds for other purposes or to cover their deficits to show that they were in surplus.

"The main question is, who is actually responsible? Is it Irwan or former finance minister Najib Abdul Razak or both?" Lim asked in a statement today.

Najib, who is also the former prime minister, has denied wrongdoing and wants a royal commission of inquiry into the matter.