[UPDATED] Najib triumphs in bid to halt judgment order over RM1.7 bil debt

KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has succeeded in his bid to temporarily halt a summary judgment order on him paying more than RM1.7 billion in tax arrears.

The appellate court has granted an interim stay for Najib and his son Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin’s tax cases, pending their leave applications to appeal at the Federal Court.

Court of Appeal judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi was quoted by Free Malaysia Today as saying that “there are special circumstances for us to allow an interim stay pending their leave application hearing in the Federal Court”.

Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk Gunalan Muniandy sat on the bench with Azizah.

On September 9, the Court of Appeal affirmed the high court’s decision to allow the Inland Revenue Board’s applications to enter a summary judgment to recover tax arrears of RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin.

On the same day, a Court of Appeal three-member panel led by justice Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil had allowed an interim stay application brought by Najib and Nazifuddin with conditions that they file their notice of motion and stay applications by this week.

They had appealed to the Court of Appeal against two previous high court rulings. 

On July 22 last year, high court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache allowed the IRB’s application for a summary judgment to be entered against Najib in its suit to recover the RM1.69 billion in taxes from the latter for the period between 2011 and 2017.

As for Nazifuddin, high court judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim had on July 6 last year ordered him to pay RM37.6 million in unpaid taxes to IRB after allowing the board’s application to enter a summary judgment against him in its tax arrears suit seeking to recover the unpaid amount from him between 2011 and 2017.

On February 4 this year, the IRB issued a bankruptcy notice against Najib for his failure to pay the amount, as the summary judgment was not stayed, while Nazifuddin was also served a bankruptcy notice on April 30 this year over his failure to pay the amount as ordered by the high court.

Najib and Nazifuddin subsequently filed separate notices of motion on September 14 this year to the Federal Court, seeking leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision in dismissing their appeals.

They sought the Federal Court to determine nine legal questions. – The Vibes, October 21, 2021