Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin wants Putrajaya to leave banks alone, and let Bank Negara deal with them.

"We should not interfere in the management of banks. These things, it is best to leave it to Bank Negara. They are independent and they should be able to manage it well.

"The main reason we should stop interfering with Bank Negara's duties is because of past scandals," Daim said in an interview with Focus Malaysia.

He was responding to a question about Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng's remarks two months ago, urging banks to ease lending restrictions.

Lim said the complaints were about difficulties obtaining loans, even though banks were recording huge profits.

Meanwhile, Daim echoed the finance minister's past remarks about the positives of the now-abolished GST.

"GST is probably the best form of tax. It is equitable. But what you do with the money is also important.

"In the case of the previous government, they did not refund the money, among others. And that is where the objection is: the abuse of funds collected through the GST," he said.

Last year, Lim had said that GST was a more effective tax, but said one problem was when refunds were not paid on time.

He had also claimed that RM19.4 billion in GST arrears were misappropriated by the previous government, causing a delay in repayments.