The Malaysian Insight

THE Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) suit to recover RM1.69 billion in income tax arrears from Najib Razak was stalled after defence lawyers today challenged the plaintiff’s appointment of a prominent tax lawyer.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set November 29 for case management of Najib’s application to challenge the legality of the appointment of D.P. Naban, a seasoned tax lawyer, to lead the plaintiff against the former prime minister.

Najib is seeking to disqualify Naban, claiming that the latter’s firm, Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, had acted against the former Barisan Nasional leader, as well as IRB, in other cases.

The high court had been scheduled to hear Najib’s application for a stay of proceedings.

At the start of today’s proceedings, Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had instead demanded to view Naban’s appointment letter.

Shafee informed the court that he had only learnt of Naban’s appointment today.

The lawyer said the defence had the right to view the appointment letter to determine “whether or not he (Naban) has got standing.”

Naban responded that he was lawfully appointed by the attorney-general under Section 24(3) of the Government Proceedings Act 1956.

At one point Shafee refused to stand down, which resulted in presiding judge Ahmad Bache calling for order.

“I’ve never asked any of my learned colleagues for their letter of appointment,” Naban told the court. 

“I have no right to ask for his (Shafee’s) letter of appointment. Similarly he does not have to ask for my appointment letter because the government is entitled to appoint me.

“I cannot understand the basis of all this.”

Shafee responded by citing an August 7 Federal Court ruling that an appointment letter must be shown to the court and the opposing legal team. 

When asked by the judge whether he had the letter on hand, Naban responded: “I have a detailed letter but I don’t think my learned friend is entitled to look at it. My Lord is entitled to ask, but not my learned friend.”  

At this point, the court stood down and proceedings continued in chambers. When the hearing reconvened in open court, Shafee informed the court: “We are challenging the legality of the appointment itself.” 

“The issue of disqualification would also be raised because we’ve just been informed that my learned friend’s firm is acting in conflict as it has represented cases against my client and against IRB.” 

The judge informed Shafee to file his affidavit by November 15. Naban said he would file his by November 22. 

Najib’s legal team includes Farhan Shafee and Wee Yeong Kang. Senior federal counsels Abu Tariq Jamaluddin, Katryne Chia Pei Shan and Norhisham Ahmad appear for IRB.

On June 25, the IRB sued Najib for RM1.69 billion in tax arrears for the assessment years 2011 to 2017.

Najib filed a stay application on August 8, pending an appeal to reassess the value of the sum owed.

On July 24, Najib son, Mohd Nazifuddin, was sued by the IRB for owing RM37.6 million in unpaid income taxes for the same period.

A month later, on August 26, the IRB went after Najib’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, for RM10.3 million owed over the same period.

In a Facebook post in July, Najib alleged the sum in question was obtained through donations, which were tax deductible. – November 8, 2019.