Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and another have filed applications to strike out a lawsuit against them by Carpet Raya Sdn Bhd director Deepak Jaikishan (above) and two others, over taxes incurred for allegedly acting as proxies for the couple.
This was revealed by counsel Nasbal Harun after he attended case management of the legal action in the chambers of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, before judicial commissioner Quay Chew Soon this morning.
Nasbal said Najib, Rosmah and Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim filed their striking out applications on Sept 24.
On Nov 16, it was reported that Deepak, his brother J Rajesh and Carpet Raya filed the suit against Najib, Rosmah and Azeez, seeking a declaration that the couple was responsible for paying the tax arrears owed by the plaintiffs to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
Speaking to reporters after the case management today, Nasbal, who acted for the plaintiffs Deepak, Rajesh and Carpet Raya, said that the three defendants had filed the striking-out applications on grounds that the main suit purportedly has no cause of action and was vexatious.
Under the law, a cause of action refers to a fact or facts that enable a person to institute legal action against another, while vexatious means to cause annoyance, frustration or worry.
“They (Najib, Rosmah and Azeez) want to strike out (the main suit) as they believe that it has no cause of action and was vexatious,” Nasbal said.
The lawyer explained that the court had set May 6 next year to hear all three striking-out applications and had directed all parties to file written submissions by Feb 28.
During today’s session in chambers, counsel Cheryl Chong Wei Teng appeared for Najib and Rosmah while counsel Arwindar Gill acted for Azeez.
It was reported that Deepak and the other two plaintiffs are suing for allegedly acting as agents and proxies to Najib and Rosmah in a land transaction and business deals, as instructed by the couple, between 2004 and 2010.
Deepak and the others also claimed that Azeez acted as an agent for Najib and Rosmah to carry out the transactions and as the intermediary between the couple and Carpet Raya.
Deepak also alleged that as a result of the transactions, he received a letter from the IRB, dated March 2, 2018, to settle the arrears in tax owed by Carpet Raya and his income tax, totalling more than RM6 million, excluding penalty charges and interest.
The plaintiffs alleged that they were also required to pay the tax arrears in instalments for 24 months from January 2018 until December 2019, in line with the decision given by the Finance Ministry through a letter dated Sept 21, 2017.
Deepak claimed that he received the letter from IRB following the souring of relations between him and the couple in 2012, as he allegedly refused to abide by their instructions in a separate civil suit involving private investigator P Balasubramaniam, who is also popularly known as PI Bala.
He claimed that Azeez (below) knew about the matter.
The plaintiffs alleged that Najib and Rosmah had directed for legal action to be taken by IRB against Carpet Raya and the IRB filed a winding-up petition against the company on March 22, 2017, and the petition was published in newspapers.
The plaintiffs claimed that as a result of the petition, their business and reputation were jeopardised and Deepak was also banned from leaving the country, while their business facilities were withdrawn by Maybank and the company's contract with Ikea was cancelled.
They seek a court declaration that Najib and Rosmah are responsible for paying the tax arrears owed by the company.
They also seek damages of RM500,000 which was paid to Maybank, RM47 million for the company's inability to fulfil its contracts and sales, RM74 million for cancellation of the company's contract with Ikea, RM200 million for alleged defamation and RM37 million in losses caused by Najib’s misconduct.
They also seek RM100 million in aggravated and exemplary damages.
Deepak, Najib and Rosmah are also embroiled in other legal actions such as the businessperson’s RM676 million suit against the couple and two companies for alleged conspiracy and exerting of undue influence on him over three parcels of land near Bukit Raja.
Another suit that the trio is locked in a tussle are Deepak’s RM52.6 million suit against Najib and Rosmah over losses purportedly incurred from conspiracy, fraud, malfeasance and abuse of process linked to a condominium project in Kuala Lumpur. - Mkini
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