Alleged Jho Low associate Tang ordered to pay RM6.7m tax

 

The government has obtained a court order for Casey Tang Keng Chee, a purported associate of 1MDB-linked fugitive Low Taek Jho, to pay over RM6.7 million in alleged tax arrears.

The ruling added Tang to the tally of tax orders obtained by the government against two other alleged Low associates, namely Tan Kim Loong and Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court issued the Judgment in Default of Appearance (JID) against Tang on April 20.

Previously, the court has also issued similar orders against Tan and Loo to pay up RM67.9 million and RM2.4 million in alleged unpaid taxes, respectively.

Former 1MDB general counsel Loo was the first ordered by the court to pay up on Feb 18, followed by former 1MDB director Tang on April 22, and Tan on May 3.

However, the trio, as well as Low, who is also known as Jho Low, remained at large and are the subject of an international manhunt by authorities in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

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.

Tan’s name has cropped up during the trial of Najib’s RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

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

A defendant enters an 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 Tang’s alleged failure to enter an appearance in the legal action.

Through the filing dated April 20, the plaintiff-government contended that Tang failed to enter appearance despite the tax suit cause papers having been served via substitute service via advertising in Berita Harian on March 16.

The government also claimed that the court papers have been properly served via sticking Tang’s known address at Taman Sri Endah, Kuala Lumpur, on March 17.

According to a copy of the JID dated April 20 as sighted by Malaysiakini, Tang was ordered to pay RM6,779,852.36 to the plaintiff, namely the government.

The government is seeking alleged unpaid taxes from Tang for a nine-year assessment period from 2009 to 2017.

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

Tang 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. - Mkini