June 16 hearing of Shafee's application to stay proceeding of IRB's RM9.41 million tax arrears suit

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has set June 16 to hear an application by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah for a stay of proceedings of a suit filed against him by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) for payment of income tax arrears amounting to RM9.41 million pending the disposal of his appeal to the Special Commissioners of Income Tax of Malaysia.

His lawyer, Wee Yeong Kang, told reporters when contacted after the case management, which was held online through e-Review today that the hearing would be before Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin at 3.30 pm.

The case management was held before Senior Assistant Registrar Nurul Izzah Hasan Basri was also attended by lawyer Mohamad Ezmeer Zulkarnaen Asnizar, representing IRB.

Muhammad Shafee, 69, filed the application on Nov 3 last year, which, among other things, sought an order for the proceedings to be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of an application filed by former prime minister Datuk Seri Seri Najib Abdul Razak and his son, Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin, regarding the payment of income tax, amounting to RM1.69 billion and RM37.6 million respectively, to the IRB, before the Federal Court.

Among the grounds cited by Muhammad Shafee was that he had filed a notice of appeal against the notices on additional assessment for the assessment years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, to the IRB on June 27, 2019, apart from the existence of special circumstances that warrant the stay.

On Sept 27 last year, the IRB had applied for its suit against Muhammad Shafee to be decided through summary judgment, on the grounds that the defendant had failed to pay the income tax arrears amounting to RM9,414,708.32 within the stipulated time.

A summary judgement is where a court decides a case without hearing the testimony of witnesses.

The IRB filed the suit against Muhammad Shafee on May 6 last year, seeking payment amounting to RM9.41 million in tax arrears for five assessment years.

Muhammad Shafee is the lawyer representing Najib in the case involving the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.

He is also facing two charges of receiving RM9.5 million in proceeds from unlawful activities from Najib, and two charges of making false declarations to the IRB.

-- BERNAMA