Serving of bankruptcy notice on Najib an act of intimidation, says Shafee

PUTRAJAYA (April 8): Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pictured) has described the move to serve a bankruptcy notice on the former premier as intimidation on the grounds that it happened just after Umno had declared its withdrawal of support for the Perikatan Nasional government.

"This is a clear act of intimidation and a clear abuse of the court process," Shafee said today.

He added that he has been instructed to file a stay of the bankcruptcy order, and would try and set aside the notice.

The bankruptcy notice was issued by the High Court on Monday (April 5) over taxes totalling RM1.74 billion, including interests, that Najib owed the government.

If the notice is approved, it may result in the former premier being disqualified as an MP based on Article 48 of the Federal Constitution.

“There are certain people who are interested in disqualifying my client from his present seat, election, any position and any party,” said Shafee.

A day after receiving the notice, Najib reiterated in a Facebook post that he was being wrongly persecuted and claimed that he was in discussion with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

Court documents sighted by theedgemarkets.com showed that a bankruptcy notice was issued by the High Court to Najib on Feb 4, following a request by the IRB on the same date.

The department filed the claim against Najib in 2019, after it concluded that the former premier did not declare taxable incomes of almost RM4 billion for the period — including the RM2.6 billion which went into his personal bank account and which he had inisted was a personal donation from a member of the Saudi royal family.

The High Court had entered a summary judgment against Najib after Justice Datuk Ahmad Bache directed the former premier to pay the RM1.69 billion taxes owed to the government.

"The court holds that a summary judgment is entered against the defendant (Najib) for the amount claimed by the IRB as in the plaintiff's statement of claim stated, that is RM1.692,872.924.83 with RM15,000 costs," Ahmad had ruled.

Najib has filed an appeal against the decision, and a hearing date has been fixed in July.

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