NAJIB Razak and his son Mohd Nazifuddin’s appeals against the summary judgments entered against them over income tax arrears is fixed for another case management on January 17 next year. 

This was disclosed to Bernama by lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, one of the counsels representing Najib and Nazifuddin, following case management of the appeals today before deputy registrar Suhaila Haron. 

“The next case management on January 17 next year is to update the status of the grounds of appeal and to fix the hearing date,” he said. 

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

Two High Courts had allowed the IRB’s applications to enter summary judgments to recover tax arrears of RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin, respectively, 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 appeal in the Court of Appeal in September last year to set aside the summary judgments. 

On May 10, the Federal Court granted the duo leave to pursue their appeals to the apex court. 

In civil cases, litigants must first obtain leave before they can proceed with the appeals in the Federal Court.

Najib and Nazifuddin’s appeals will be determined by the apex court based on nine questions of law. – Bernama, November 21, 2022.