THE Federal Court has allowed the bid by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his son Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib to halt execution of a judgment ordering them to pay more than RM1.7 bil in tax arrears the outcome of their appeals before the apex court.
Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat granted the stay of execution after the Inland Revenue Board’s (LHDN) senior revenue counsel Al-Hummidallah Idrus informed the court that they had no objection to the request.
The other judges who sat with Tengku Maimun were Mary Lim and Rhodzariah Bujang.
According to The Vibes, the tax authority had filed a lawsuit against Najib in 2020, claiming tax arrears of over RM1.69 bil from the Pekan MP and RM37.6 mil from Nazifuddin for the period between 2011 and 2017.
On May 1, 2022 Najib and Nazifuddin were given the nod by the Federal Court to proceed with their appeals against the decisions of two separate high courts in allowing the IRB’s applications to enter a summary judgement to recover more than RM1.7 bil in tax arrears from them.
In civil cases, the litigants must first obtain leave before they can proceed with the appeals in the Federal Court.
A summary judgement is obtained when the court decides on a case, through written submissions, without a full trial and calling witnesses.
LHDN had obtained the summary judgment against them on July 22, 2020, a decision which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in September 2021.
A summary judgment is given when the court decides at a preliminary stage that a defendant has no defence to a plaintiff’s claim and that a full trial requiring the calling of witnesses to testify is unwarranted.
Premised on the judgment, a bankruptcy notice was filed against Najib last year after he failed to pay the judgment sum.
Nazifuddin was similarly slapped with a bankruptcy notice in May 2021.
Earlier this year, the Federal Court granted both leave to appeal in their effort to set aside the judgment. – Sept 21, 2022
