KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — A specialist at the Gleneagles Hospital here was charged in the Magistrate’s Court here today with five counts of income tax evasion amounting to more than RM6.5 million.

Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Datuk Dr Lee Chiang Heng, 57, who also owned a clinic, pleaded not guilty to all five charges which were read out before Magistrate Siti Radzeah Kamarudin.

The plea of not guilty was made by Mohd Idhan Omar, 32, on behalf of Dr Lee, who is his employer. Dr Lee could not attend today’s proceeding due to work matters.

Dr Lee was charged with wilfully evading to pay tax for income earned from his private practice at the clinic and service at the private hospital, totalling RM25,063,265.00, the amount of which should have been stated in the ‘Borang Nyata (Borang B)’ for the year of assessment in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

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This resulted in income tax of RM6,567,992.59 not paid by Dr Lee for the respective years.

Lee was supposed to pay income tax of RM638,171.80 in 2007, RM1,282,035.16 (2008), RM1,415,004.68 (2009), RM1,549,877.13 (2010) and RM1,682,903.82 in 2011.

He was charged with committing the offences at the clinic and hospital in Jalan Ampang here between June 2008 and June 2012.

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The charges were made under Section 114 (1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967, which carries a fine not exceeding RM20,000, or imprisonment not exceeding three years, and a special penalty of three times the amount of tax involved, if convicted.

The prosecution was conducted by prosecuting officer from the Inland Revenue Board, Mohd Shafuddin Hasan, while lawyer Dir Kheizwan Kamaruddin represented Dr Lee.

The court set Sept 20 for mention. — Bernama