Bankruptcy will not 'paralyse' me: Najib

 

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak vowed that bankruptcy will not "paralyse" (lumpuh) him from continuing to voice out for the people.

The Pekan MP declared this in his Facebook posting this afternoon, following today’s earlier court decision dismissing his application to stay a ruling linked to a RM1.69 billion tax suit against him.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today denied Najib’s bid to stay a summary judgment ruling in the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) tax suit against him.

The IRB is relying on the summary judgment to proceed with ongoing bankruptcy proceedings against him, before a separate Kuala Lumpur High Court.

He has a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal to quash the High Court's summary judgment.

Through the posting on his official Facebook page, Najib reiterated that today’s court decision has yet to establish him as a bankrupt.

He contended that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government still has a long way to go and numerous processes to wade through if it truly wishes to bankrupt him.

“Furthermore, even if the PN government succeeds, it does not mean that I stop voicing out for the people, and nobody has ever said that a bankrupt status could not be remedied in the short term, because bankruptcy does not 'paralyse' (lumpuh) me.

“A bankrupt status also does not mean that I immediately turn ‘sembab, lembap atau bodoh’ (swollen, dull-witted or stupid) as claimed by a certain somebody during a special discussion that day (bicara khas hari itu),” Najib said.

The former Umno president pointed out that the court today admitted that the Special Commissioner of Special Tax (SCIT) needed to review the calculation of the tax penalties against him, adding that this process has not begun despite waiting for the past two years.

He also pointed to part of today's court ruling that the government is capable of repaying back RM1.7 billion (inclusive of new penalties) to him, should he succeed in his tax-reassessment appeal with the SCIT.

The High Court denied Najib's stay application as the government is able to compensate him should he succeed in his tax-reassessment appeal with SCIT.

“This is what I mean that it is very easy for a government to abuse the Income Tax Act to implement, according to them, whatever tax assessment they wish.

“If the government wishes to hit a tax penalty of RM1 trillion on Mahathir or Guan Eng also it can proceed and is valid under the law, based on the policy of 'pay first, talk later'.

“On the issue of the validity or otherwise of the assessment calculation, we await,” Najib added.

The metaphorical portion of Najib’s Facebook posting was referring to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng. - Mkini