17/06/2014 (Bernama) - Sabah's Finance Ministry managed the licences for crude palm oil (CPO) sales tax well because all palm oil factories are licensed, according to the second series of the 2013 Auditor-General's Report released today.

The report said despite the ministry's success, there were certain weaknesses, among them, the sales tax were not accompanied by documents and CPO information was different from Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

Also, it said, there were cases where the licences were issued without collaterals, the factory operated from a different location to that issued under the licence and the monitoring of the licence holders was not available.

The report said the sales tax from the CPO sales, which has been the main revenue contributor to the state since 2004, has enabled the state government to plan and implement development plans.

"The CPO sales tax represented the highest contributor of RM3.4 billion, or 92 per cent, of total taxes from 2011-2013 of RM3.7 billion," it said.

The report said last year, the palm oil acreage, including smallholders, in Sabah, totalled 1.51 million hectares.