KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — The High Court today set November 8 to hear the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) application for summary judgment on its suit to recover RM1.69 billion in unpaid tax from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Senior Revenue Counsel Norhisham Ahmad representing the IRB said Justice Datuk Ahmad Bache also set the same date to hear Najib’s application to stay the proceedings.
“The court also ordered both parties to file their written submissions on both applications by November 1,” he told reporters after the case management in chambers today.
Lawyers Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee and Wee Yeong Kang representing Najib confirmed the matter.
Summary judgment is a judgment entered by a court without a full trial.
On August 8, filed an application for a stay of the proceedings of IRB’s lawsuit seeking him to pay RM1.69 billion in income tax, pending an appeal on the tax assessment to IRB.
However, the IRB, in its supporting affidavit, said that Najib still has to pay the total amount of RM1.69 billion even if has filed an appeal against the tax assessment.
IRB Monitoring Unit assistant director Hisyamuddin Mohd Hassan, in his supporting affidavit, said that according to Section 103 of the Income Tax Act 1967, all the assessed tax shall be due and payable on the day the notice of assessment is served, whether or not the person appeals against the assessment.
On June 25, the government through IRB filed the suit against Najib seeking him to pay RM1.69 billion in unpaid tax with interest at five per cent a year from the date of judgment, as well as cost and other relief deemed fit by the court. — Bernama
