PUTRAJAYA, Sept 4 — The Court of Appeal today granted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his son, Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib, a stay of bankruptcy proceedings against them.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, Datuk Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman and Datuk Ong Chee Kwan allowed their appeals to set aside the High Court’s November 17 decision last year, which dismissed their applications for a stay.
Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Alwi said a stay was warranted as the appellants had raised specific issues to be determined by the Special Commissioners of Income Tax (SCIT), which constituted sufficient grounds for granting the applications.
Najib and Nazifuddin had sought a stay of the bankruptcy proceedings pending the disposal of their appeals before the SCIT against additional tax assessments issued by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
The bankruptcy proceedings stemmed from separate High Court decisions granting the IRB summary judgments against the father and son over unpaid tax arrears for the 2011 to 2017 assessment years.
The IRB is seeking to recover RM1.69 billion from Najib and RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin.
