Court orders Jho Low's alleged associate to pay RM2.4m in taxes

 

Jasmine Loo Ai Swan has become the first of 1MDB-linked fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho's alleged associates ordered to pay millions in outstanding taxes.

Last Thursday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court issued the order for the former general counsel of 1MDB to pay up RM2.4 million in unpaid taxes.

Previously, it was reported that the government had filed three separate tax suits against Low's three alleged associates that seek unpaid taxes comprising RM67.9 million from Tan Kim Loon, RM6.7 million from Casey Tang and RM2.4 million from Loo.

At present, the police are still trying to locate Low, also known as Jho Low, along with Tan, Tang and Loo to assist an ongoing investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

Tan, Tang and Loo's names were referred to multiple times in the course of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial.

According to a copy of the Judgment-in-Default (JID) dated Feb 18, Loo was ordered to pay RM 2,496,133.05 to the plaintiff, namely the government.

The government is seeking alleged unpaid taxes from Loo for five assessment years between 2012 and 2018 (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018).

The total amount sought from her includes penalties imposed on her for each assessment year for alleged failure to pay.

She was also ordered to pay five percent annual interest on the amount sought calculated from the date of judgment until the date of full payment and costs of RM2,000.

Under the law, a plaintiff may seek a JID if the defendant fails to "enter appearance" in a legal action, despite the cause papers having been properly served on the defendant per Order 10 Rule 1 of the Rules of Court 2012.

A defendant enters appearance in legal proceedings, either personally or through a lawyer.

In support of the application for JID, the government has also made a court filing attesting to Loo's alleged failure to enter appearance in the legal action. - Mkini