Oct 21 hearing for stay of execution bid by Najib and son in tax arrears suit

The Court of Appeal has fixed Oct 21 to hear the stay of execution applications by Najib Razak and his son Mohd Nazifuddin on the summary judgment obtained against them by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) over unpaid income tax arrears pending the hearing of their bid for leave to appeal.

Lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, representing the former prime minister and his son, in a text message to Bernama said the hearing of the stay applications would be conducted via Zoom.

“We are seeking a stay of execution of the Kuala Lumpur High Court order pending leave to appeal to the Federal Court,” he said.

The case came up for case management today before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman. Wee attended the case management proceedings while senior revenue counsels Muhammad Nabil Abdul Halim and Siti Aisyah Yusoff @ Md Nasir appeared for LHDN.

On Sept 9, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s decision to allow LHDN’s applications to enter a summary judgment to recover tax arrears of RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin.

On the same day, a three-member Court of Appeal panel led by justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil allowed an interim stay application brought by Najib and Nazifuddin on condition that they file their notice of motion and stay application by that week.

A summary judgment is when the court decides a particular case summarily, without calling witnesses to testify in a trial.

The duo had appealed to the Court of Appeal against two previous High Court rulings.

On July 22, last year, High Court judge Ahmad Bache allowed LHDN’s application for a summary judgement to be entered against Najib in its suit to recover the RM1.69 billion in taxes from the latter for the period between 2011 and 2017.

As for Nazifuddin, High Court judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim on July 6 last year ordered him to pay LHDN RM37.6 million in unpaid taxes after allowing the board’s application to enter a summary judgment against him in its tax arrears suit seeking to recover the unpaid amount from between 2011 and 2017.

On Feb 4 this year, LHDN issued a bankruptcy notice against Najib for his failure to pay the amount as the summary judgment was not stayed. Nazifuddin was also served with a bankruptcy notice on April 30 this year over failure to pay the amount as ordered by the High Court.

Najib and Nazifuddin subsequently filed separate notices of motion on Sept 14 this year to the Federal Court seeking leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision in dismissing their appeals and asking the Federal Court to determine nine legal questions.