The father and son owe the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) RM1.69 billion and RM37.6 million, respectively, in tax arrears.

Lawyer Wee Yeong Kang, representing Najib and Nazifuddin, told reporters the court allowed his clients’ application during an online case management before High Court deputy registrar Ida Rahayu Sharif.

The case management was also attended by LHDN’s counsel Athari Faris Ammerry Hussein.

“The application to postpone the bankruptcy proceedings was made to enable the appeal of my two clients on a summary judgment obtained by LHDN, which ordered them to pay the tax arrears, to be decided by the Federal Court,” said Wee, adding that the court set Oct 4 for case management.

The government, through LHDN, filed a bankruptcy notice in the High Court here on Feb 4 last year against Najib and Nazifuddin as debtors.

According to the notice, Najib is required to pay RM1.69 billion with 5% interest per annum on the total balance from July 22, 2020 (the date of the court decision) to Feb 4 last year, which is RM45.9 million, and costs of RM15,000. As of Feb 4 last year, the amount payable is RM1,738,804,204.16.

As for Nazifuddin, he has to pay RM37.6 million with 5% interest per annum on the total balance from July 6, 2020 (the date of the court decision) to Feb 4 last year, which is RM1.1 million, and costs of RM10,000. As of Feb 4 last year, the amount payable is RM38,758,370.93.

Najib and Nazifuddin failed in their appeal in the Court of Appeal on Sept 9 last year to set aside the summary judgments, but allowed their application to stay the judgment order pending the hearing of the application for leave to appeal at the Federal Court.

On May 10, the Federal Court granted Najib and Nazifuddin leave to appeal over the judgment obtained by LHDN in the tax arrears case.