KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is seeking to quash his bankruptcy notice after failing to pay RM1.69 billion in arrears to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) after last year’s high court ruling.
According to court documents, he said the IRB notice issued on February 4 last year was a conspiracy aimed at ruining his political career.
He also called the notice “malicious, oppressive and an abuse of the court process”.
Najib’s lawyer, Wee Yeong Kang, told Bernama later that his client also filed an application on May 31 to suspend the bankruptcy proceedings pending his client’s appeal against the high court.
Wee added that the court has set July 22 for case management.
The government had filed a bankruptcy notice against Najib for failing to pay the sum in income tax amounting to RM1.69 billion, as ruled by the high court in July last year.
According to documents filed in court, the government, through the IRB, filed the notice in the high court on February 4 against Najib as a debtor.
Based on the notice, Najib has to pay RM1.69 billion with 5% interest rate per annum on the total balance from July 22, 2020 (date of high court’s decision) to February 4, 2021, with the total payable amount as of the latter date at 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 judgement against the former. – The Vibes, June 2, 2021
