Court orders Najib's son to pay RM13.1m tax

 

The Shah Alam High Court has ordered former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's son, Mohamad Nizar, to pay RM13.1 million in unpaid taxes over a seven-year period from 2011.

In a 14-page written judgment dated Sept 25, Judicial Commissioner Julie Lack Abdullah ruled that it is settled law that a person must first pay the owed taxes to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) before appealing to the Special Commissioners of Income Tax (Scit).

According to news portal The Edge Markets, she ruled that there exist no triable issues in the tax suit, as the legal action is not time-barred.

Her ruling was in relation to the court allowing the IRB’s application for summary judgment in the tax suit against Nizar (above).

Under the law, a party in a legal action can apply for summary judgment, whereby the judge can decide on a matter without going for full trial.

In issuing the ruling, Julie said she adopted the ruling by the Kuala Lumpur High Court which allowed the IRB’s summary judgment bid in a RM1.69 billion tax suit against Najib.

"This court observes that the same argument was canvassed in the Government of Malaysia vs Datuk Seri Najib Razak's case. Therefore, I shall in all humility adopt the rationale by Justice Ahmad where he elucidated on the reasons why the provisions in the Income Tax Act 1967 (ITA) do not contravene the powers of the court," she ruled.

Julie quoted part of the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Ahmad Bache’s written judgment, which read "Contrary to the present (Najib's) case, the correctness of the assessment is appealable to the Scit, and on further appeal is to be decided by the High Court.

“Thus the issue that the High Court does not have the power to deal with the issue of assessment does not arise and is therefore misconceived.

Therefore the dispute on the assessment could be dealt with by the court once the matter has been decided by the Scit by way of an appeal," the written judgment stated.

On July 22 this year, Ahmad (photo) allowed the IRB’s summary judgment application in the RM1.69 billion tax suit against Najib.

Julie then ruled that the issues raised by defendant Nizar as “devoid of merits, baseless and do not constitute triable issues”, and thus allowed the IRB’s bid for summary judgment.

On July 24 at the Shah Alam High Court, the government filed the RM13.1 million tax suit against Nizar.

Nizar was accused of failure to pay RM764,228.07, RM1,624,985.74, RM1,592,904.17, RM530,066.52, RM1,215,490.78, RM1,908,897.91, and RM3,757,212.10, as additional tax assessment for the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

He was slapped with an additional 10 percent on the total due to his purported failure to pay back the taxes within 30 days of being served the assessment notice at his last known address at No 38, Jalan 4M, Ampang Jaya, Ampang, Selangor, on March 22, 2019.

For alleged failure to pay up within 60 days, the defendant was hit with a further five percent hike, bringing the total tax due to RM13,159,821.94

The government was also seeking five percent annual interest on the total, from the date of judgment to the date of settlement, as well as costs and any other relief deemed fit by the court.

Aside from Najib, the IRB was also allowed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 6 to obtain summary judgment in its RM37.6 million tax suit against Mohd Nazifuddin (photo), who is also a son of Najib.

However, the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 26 dismissed the IRB’s bid for summary judgment in the RM10.3 million tax suit against Nooryana Najwa, a daughter of Najib.

Najib, Nazifuddin, and Nizar have since appealed to the Court of Appeal, while the IRB has also appealed to the Court of Appeal over its failed summary judgment bid against Nooryana Najwa. - Mkini