THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today allowed an application by former prime minister Najib Razak and his son, Mohd Nazifuddin Najib, to postpone the bankruptcy proceedings against them for failing to settle their tax arrears with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) pending the disposal of their appeals at the Federal Court.

The father and son owed the IRB RM1.69 billion and RM37.6 million, respectively.

Lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, representing Najib and Nazifuddin, said the court allowed their  application during online case management before High Court deputy registrar Ida Rahayu Sharif.

The proceedings were also attended by counsel Athari Faris Ammerry Hussein, on behalf of the IRB.

“The application to postpone the bankruptcy proceedings was made to enable the appeal of my two clients regarding a summary judgment obtained by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) which ordered them to pay the tax arrears to be decided by the Federal Court,” said Wee, adding that the court set October 4 for case management.

The government, through the IRB, filed a bankruptcy notice in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on February 4, 2021 against Najib and Nazifuddin as debtors.

According to the notice, Najib is required to pay RM1.69 billion with 5% interest rate per annum on the total balance from July 22, 2020 (date of High Court decision) to February 4, 2021, which is RM45.9 million and costs of RM15,000, and as of February 4, 2021, the amount payable is RM1,738,804,204.16.

Nazifuddin has to pay RM37.6 million with 5% interest rate per annum on the total balance from July 6, 2020 (date of High Court decision) to February 4, 2021 which is RM1.1 million and costs of RM10,000 and as of February 4, 2021 the amount payable is RM38,758,370.93.

Najib and Nazifuddin failed in their appeal in the Court of Appeal on September 9, 2021 to set aside the summary judgments, but allowed their application to stay the judgment order pending the hearing of the application for leave to appeal in the Federal Court.

On May 10, the Federal Court granted leave to appeal to Najib and Nazifuddin regarding the judgment obtained by the IRB in the tax arrears case. – Bernama, May 19, 2022.