Aug 9 hearing date maintained for Nazifuddin's appeal in IRB suit

His counsel Wee Yeong Kang, when contacted, confirmed that the hearing date which was earlier fixed during a case management on Feb 4 this year has been retained.

Wee said today's case management before deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman was to update the status of the cause papers.

Mohd Nazifuddin filed the appeal against the High Court decision on July 6 last year which ordered him to pay RM37.6 million in unpaid tax to IRB after allowing IRB's application to enter a summary judgment against him in its tax arrears suit seeking to recover the unpaid amount due from him between 2011 and 2017.

In allowing the summary judgement, judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim said it has been proven that the plaintiff's claim was clear and obvious.

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

The IRB via the Malaysian government filed a writ of summons against Mohd Nazifuddin on July 24, 2019 claiming that he still had unpaid taxes for the assessment years from 2011 to 2017 as stated in the assessment notice dated March 15, 2019.

The government claimed that Mohd Nazifuddin's failure to pay the taxes for the seven years, which should be done within 30 days from the date of assessment notice as stipulated under Section 103 of the Income Tax Act 1967, caused a 10 per cent additional payment to be imposed.

The government also contended that Mohd Nazifuddin had still failed to settle the amount within 60 days in accordance with the Act, and another compounded five per cent increase was imposed, bringing the total to RM37,644,810.73.