THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has again granted Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) an interim stay against the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) RM3.6 bil tax assessment.
Petronas and its subsidiary Petronas Carigali with Sapura OMV and Tembungo Sub Block PSC have filed three judicial review proceedings, accusing the IRB’s action as ultra vires, illegal, void, in excess of authority and irrational.
The oil firm maintained that IRB wrongly portrayed a transfer pricing issue under section 72A of the Petroleum (Income Tax) Act 1967 as there were no issues of tax avoidance previously.
Judge Ahmad Kamal Shahid granted the interim stay pending the judicial review to challenge the additional tax assessments as well as the outcome of the Bintulu Lumber case that is before the Federal Court.
Last week, the high court had granted a similar order to Petronas over another RM105 mil tax claim.
Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) was today granted an interim stay order before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mariana Ahmad against IRB’s assessment of RM1.8 bil.
Both judges said the Federal Court decision on Aug 26 will provide clarity to the issues of the law involved.
IRB had requested all judicial review leave applications in tax cases be served on IRB and not just the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
IRB and the AGC have indicated they will oppose the leave applications and requested to be heard.
IRB was represented by Hazlina Hussain, Marvaina Zainol, Ridzuan Osman, Muazmir Mohd Yusuf and Noraina Bt Sham.
Nazri Ismail and Shahmin Amizah Abu Bakar appeared for the AGC.
Petronas and TNB were represented by Rosli Dahlan and S. Saravanakumar from RDS Law Partnership. – Aug 10, 2020
