Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court May 17, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak has filed an application to ask the High Court to strike out the bankruptcy notice in relation to a sum of nearly RM1.7 billion in taxes and interest that the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) is demanding from him.
Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed that the former prime minister had filed this application on May 31.
“We filed a summons in chambers last Monday to strike out the Bankruptcy Notice filed by the Government of Malaysia on the basis that it is mala fide and an abuse of process,” he told Malay Mail when contacted today.
Farhan said no hearing date has been fixed for the case yet as it is still at the case management stage, and that the case is scheduled for case management next on July 22.
In April this year, the IRB had served Najib with the bankruptcy notice dated February 4.
The bankruptcy notice notified Najib that he was required to pay RM1,738,804,204.16 or almost RM1.74 billion to the IRB, which comprised of the RM1.69 billion sum he was ordered to pay and also RM45,916,279.33 or RM45.9 million in interest plus RM15,000 in costs.
The IRB as the creditor had started bankruptcy proceedings against Najib through this bankruptcy notice.
In a May 31 affidavit in support by Najib to support his application to strike out the bankruptcy notice, the Pekan MP and former Umno president had claimed that the bankruptcy notice was an abuse of process, premature and was filed outside of the limitation period under the law.
Among other things, Najib said he believed that the bankruptcy notice was an abuse of process, claiming that it was allegedly used for a collateral purpose of “damaging my reputation and political career”.
He also claimed that there was wrongful calculation of the taxes being claimed from him, alleging that this was “intentional in order for my political opponents to manipulate public perception to imply and/or indicate that I am a person who evades taxes (which is strongly denied)”.
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