Najib and son’s tax appeals to be heard in January

PUTRAJAYA: The next case management in Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his son Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib’s appeals against summary judgments over income tax arrears has been fixed for Jan 17.

According to Bernama, this was disclosed by lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, representing Najib and Nazifuddin, following case management of the appeals before Federal Court deputy registrar Suhaila Haron yesterday.

The former prime minister and his son are appealing against summary judgements obtained by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) to recover more than RM1.7bil in tax arrears from them.

Two separate High Courts had allowed LHDN’s applications to enter summary judgments to recover tax arrears of RM1.69bil from Najib and RM37.6mil from Nazifuddin for the period between 2011 and 2017.

A summary judgment is obtained when the court decides on a case, through written submissions, without a full trial and calling witnesses.

Both Najib and Nazifuddin lost their bids in the Court of Appeal in September last year to set aside the summary judgments.

On May 10 this year, the Federal Court granted them leave to pursue their appeals there. In civil cases, litigants must first obtain leave before they can proceed.

Najib and Nazifuddin’s appeals will be determined by the Federal Court based on nine questions of law.