IRB: Najib will file application to set aside bankruptcy notice - Lawyer

PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will file an application to set aside the bankruptcy notice served on him following his failure to pay RM1.69 billion in additional income tax arrears to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

When met by reporters, lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Najib’s legal team would file an application to set aside the bankruptcy notice and stay the bankruptcy proceedings that LHDN sought to initiate.

“We are also asking for a stay against the RM1.69 billion summary judgment order. We will be filing the necessary documents in a couple of days, seeking not only a stay of the bankruptcy notice but also on the amount being sought by the IRB.

"I have been instructed by my client to file all these applications as soon as possible," he said at a press conference after Najib's SRC appeal hearing proceeding today.

Last Tuesday, the government filed a bankruptcy notice against Najib for failing to pay income tax

According to the documents filed in court, the government through the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) filed the notice in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Feb 4 against Najib as a debtor.

Based on the notice, Najib has to pay RM1.69 billion with a five per cent interest rate per annum on the total balance from July 22, 2020 (date of the High Court's decision) to Feb 4, 2021, and the total payable amount as of the latter date was RM1,738,804,204.16.

On July 22 last year, the High Court ruled that Najib had to pay the IRB RM1.69 billion in additional tax and penalties for the period 2011 to 2017 after allowing the IRB's application to enter a summary judgment against him.

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

Najib has filed an appeal against the High Court's decision in the Court of Appeal, which will hear the case on June 16.

Pursuant to Section 103 (2) of the Income Tax Act 1967, a person ordered to pay the assessment has to settle the payment to the IRB even if an appeal has been filed.

-- BERNAMA