Kuala Lumpur— A lawsuit was filed by Malaysia’s Inland Revenue Board (IRB) against 36-year-old Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib, the son of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
According to state news agency Bernama, the younger Najib owes more than RM37.6 million (S$52 million) in unpaid taxes from 2011 to 2017, as reported on August 8, Thursday.
The suit was actually filed at the High Court on July 24, with the government as the plaintiff. The government submitted a writ of summons and a statement of claims through the IRB, wherein the son of the former Prime Minister is the sole defendant.
An assessment notice served to the defendant on March 18 and dated on March 15 of this year, shows that Mohd Nazifuddin has unpaid taxes in the seven years between 2011 and 2017.
The Malaysian government has said that these unpaid taxes that have accrued over the past 7 years need to be paid to within 30 days from the date of assessment notice as stipulated under Section 103 of the Income Tax Act 1967, adding that a 10 percent additional payment has been imposed.
Bernama reports that the government also seeks interest of 5 percent per year starting from the day of judgment until the full amount is paid, in addition to other costs and relief determined as fit by the court,
The former prime minister is also being sued by the IRB for over RM1.69 billion in additional tax assessments for the years 2011 to 2017. This suit will be discussed for case management at the end of the month.
Earlier this year the Government of Malaysia, as well as the country’s police, filed two civil forfeiture suits against the former prime minister and wife Rosmah Mansor as well as other individuals, in order to take possession of items worth RM711million (S$234 million) which had purportedly been purchased using funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
These were filed on May 7, at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The items to be seized include cash, luxury vehicles, jewellery, and designer handbags, according to a report in The Edge Financial Daily.
According to the report, this forfeiture would be the next step following authorities having taken possession of valuables from properties in the capital city district of Bukit Bintang and other venues.
The report also says that there were two notices of motion and supporting affidavits filed in the High Court, and that the first notice of motion was for the seizure of a property in the Klang Valley, as well as various luxury items such as jewellery, handbags, watches, and sunglasses, and cash in different currencies, totaling RM680million (S$223.4 million).
The second motion was for the seizure of 27 luxury cars, 29 bank accounts, watches, and bags plus cash which included foreign currencies worth RM31 million (S$10.2 million).
After last year’s General Election in May, the police raided various homes and offices connected to ex-PM Najib. Commissioner Amar Singh, who had been the commercial crime investigation department director at Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Aman police headquarters, had described the seizure as the biggest in Malaysia’s history, with the total value of the items seized estimated to be between RM900 million (S$295.6 million) and RM1.1 billion (S$ 361.3 million)./ TISG