The Federal Court has fixed Feb 23 next year to hear the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision granting former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak a stay of bankruptcy proceedings against him.
Lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, representing Najib, confirmed the hearing date to Bernama when contacted.
He said the date was fixed during an earlier case management session early this month (Nov 4).
A further case management session was held today before Federal Court Deputy Registrar Norshakinah Ahmad Kamarudin.
Wee also confirmed that the IRB had not filed an application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision granting a stay of bankruptcy proceedings against Najib’s son, Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin.
On Sept 4, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Najib and Mohd Nazifuddin, allowing their applications to stay the bankruptcy proceedings pending the disposal of their appeals before the Special Commissioners of Income Tax (SCIT) over additional tax assessments issued by the IRB.
A three-member panel chaired by Justice Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab ruled that the stay was warranted as both appellants had raised specific issues that required determination by the SCIT.
Justice Alwi said there were substantial issues concerning alleged errors in the computation of the taxable amount of approximately RM1.69 billion, including claims of double taxation and the treatment of refunded donations and dividends used for charitable and political purposes.
He noted that the IRB had not disputed the merits of these issues, maintaining instead that they should be properly determined by the SCIT.
The bankruptcy proceedings stemmed from separate High Court decisions granting the IRB’s applications for summary judgment against Najib and his son over unpaid income tax arrears for the 2011 to 2017 assessment years.
The IRB is seeking to recover RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Mohd Nazifuddin.
Both Najib and Mohd Nazifuddin had previously failed in their appeals before the Court of Appeal and Federal Court to set aside the summary judgments.
Following this, bankruptcy notices were issued against them. They subsequently applied for a stay of the bankruptcy proceedings, but their applications were dismissed by High Court Deputy Registrar Kamarul Aris Kamalluddin on July 29, 2024.
Their subsequent appeals to the High Court were also unsuccessful, prompting them to take the matter to the Court of Appeal, which eventually ruled in their favour.
Najib is currently serving the remainder of his prison sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case under house arrest at his residence in Kuala Lumpur, following payment of the RM50 million fine.
In September this year, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia, granted Najib a further conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine and compliance with other stipulated conditions.
