KUALA LUMPUR: The government, through the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN), is objecting to Shafee Abdullah’s application to obtain leave from the court to file a counterclaim against LHDN’s demand that he pay income tax arrears amounting to RM9.41 million.
Its senior counsel Al-Hummidallah Idrus, in objecting to the application, said based on the Government Proceedings Act 1956, a counterclaim could not be filed against the government for tax collection.\High Court judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain set April 13 for a decision on the objection to the application.
Shafee was represented by Farhan Shafee and Rajan Navaratnam while LHDN senior counsel Norzilah Abdul Hamid and Faqrol Syazreen Ghause also acted for the board.
The lawyer filed the application in May 2021, saying, among other things, that the tax claim was an attack on him in his capacity as a lawyer for former prime minister Najib Razak and that he was considered an Umno lawyer even though he was not the party’s lawyer.
On Sept 27, 2021, LHDN requested that the suit against Shafee be decided through direct judgment on the grounds that the defendant had failed to pay income tax arrears and a tax increase imposed on him amounting to RM9,414,708.32 within the stipulated period.
LHDN, which filed the suit on May 6, 2021, claimed that the lawyer had yet to pay income tax owed for the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 assessment years.
Shafee had represented Najib in the former prime minister’s SRC International corruption case.
On Oct 28 last year, the High Court acquitted and discharged Shafee on two charges of receiving money from illegal activities amounting to RM9.5 million from Najib and two charges of making incorrect statements to LHDN.
However, the prosecution on Nov 1 last year filed an appeal against the court’s decision. - FMT
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