Najib’s son records consent order in LHDN’s RM13.16 million tax suit

Businessman Mohamad Nizar, the son of former prime minister Najib Razak, has recorded a consent order with the Special Commissioners of Income Tax (SCIT) over the payment of income tax arrears.

Following this, Nizar, 43, will be withdrawing his appeal at the Court of Appeal against a High Court decision which granted a summary judgment in the tax suit filed against him by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

His lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed this when contacted by Bernama.

Meanwhile, Nizar’s other lawyer, Wee Yeong Kang, said the consent order was recorded before SCIT on Aug 26.

He said the consent order was in relation to the additional tax assessments for the assessment years of 2011 to 2017, inclusive of 10% and 5% penalties amounting to RM13,159,821.94.

When contacted, Wee said Nizar would be withdrawing his appeal at the Court of Appeal.

“We emailed the notice of discontinuance (NOD) to the LHDN litigation branch in Kuala Lumpur branch today and will be filing the NOD as soon as it has been approved by the LHDN litigation branch.”

The matter came up for case management today before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman.

Wee, who appeared for Nizar, and senior revenue counsel Muhammad Nabil Abdul Halim attended the case management.

Wee said the next case management had been fixed on Sept 9 for an update on the status of the NOD on the appeal.

On Aug 7 last year, the Shah Alam High Court allowed LHDN’s application for a summary judgment against Nizar and ordered him to pay RM13.16 million in unpaid taxes for the assessment years 2011 to 2017. He subsequently filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the decision.

A summary judgment is where a court decides a case through arguments without hearing the testimony of witnesses in a trial.

In her judgment, judicial commissioner Julie Lack Abdullah ruled that the issues raised by Nizar were devoid of merit and did not constitute triable issues.

She was of the view that the taxpayer must pay his taxes regardless of his dissatisfaction with the amount or for any reason.

It was reported on May 31 this year that Nizar had agreed to settle the tax arrears owed to LHDN.