.jpg "Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrives at the Court of Appeal, Putrajaya April 27, 2021. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon")
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KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak has not been recorded as bankrupt even as the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) today sought to have the court record that an act of bankruptcy has occurred, his lawyer said.
Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, one of Najib’s lawyers, shared the updates of a case management on the IRB’s court bid to have Najib declared bankrupt over his failure to pay nearly RM1.74 billion in taxes and interest claimed by the IRB.
Today was the first case management of the IRB’s case via the Malaysian government against Najib at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur before deputy registrar Ida Rahayu Sharif.
Farhan said the case management today was to confirm the filing of several documents, and for the court to fix deadlines for the substantive part of the bankruptcy case.
He said the case management was also to fix deadlines for applications that Najib would be filing in court, namely an application to stay the bankruptcy proceedings and an application to set aside the IRB’s notice of bankruptcy on grounds of abuse of process.
Farhan said the IRB’s lawyer Athari Faris Ammery Hussein had today asked the High Court to record an act of bankruptcy in Najib’s case.
“Notwithstanding that today was fixed only for a case management, counsel for LHDN suggested that a bankruptcy event has occurred and therefore moved for the act of bankruptcy to be recorded by court immediately,” he said, referring to IRB by its Malay initials LHDN.
He added that Najib’s lawyer Wee Yeong Kang had then argued that the IRB’s position was “incorrect and misguided in light of the clear rules that govern bankruptcy proceedings”.
“Accordingly, the court agreed that act of bankruptcy has not occurred at this stage,” he said.
Farhan added that the High Court then fixed May 24 for another case management for lawyers to update the court on the status of the various applications and affidavits, and that a hearing date would subsequently be fixed for the case.
The IRB as the creditor had started bankruptcy proceedings against Najib through a bankruptcy notice issued to him on February 4.
The process to have a debtor declared bankrupt typically involves the serving of the bankruptcy notice on the debtor, with failure to respond or oppose resulting in an act of bankruptcy occurring.
The next process would be the court hearing of the creditor’s petition if the debtor fails to set aside the bankruptcy notice and creditor’s petition, with the court able to either dismiss or allow or grant a stay on the creditor’s petition. The court will issue a bankruptcy order if it allows the creditor’s petition, which would result in the debtor being declared as bankrupt.
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from Malay Mail - Malaysia
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