Appeals court grants Najib and son stay of bankruptcy action in RM1.7b tax case

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 4 — The Court of Appeal here today granted former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his son, Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin, a stay of bankruptcy proceedings against them.

A three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, Datuk Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman and Datuk Ong Chee Kwan allowed their appeals to set aside the High Court’s decision on Nov 17 last year, which had dismissed their applications for a stay.

Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Alwi said the stay was warranted as the appellants had raised specific issues to be determined before the Special Commissioners of Income Tax (SCIT), which constituted sufficient grounds for granting the applications.

Najib and Nazifuddin had sought a stay of the bankruptcy proceedings pending the disposal of their appeals before the SCIT against additional tax assessments issued by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The bankruptcy proceedings stemmed from separate High Court decisions granting the IRB summary judgments against the father and son over unpaid tax arrears for the 2011 to 2017 assessment years.

The IRB is seeking to recover RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin. — Bernama