KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4): Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) are in talks for a possible settlement of the senior lawyer's case involving RM9.414 million of purported unpaid taxes.
Shafee's counsel Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam told the High Court this on Monday, adding that there are one or two things which had yet to be ironed out. Senior revenue counsel Al-Hummidallah Idrus confirmed the matter.
"Parties are negotiating to explore the possibility of a settlement. We just want to see if it can be resolved amicably," Rajan said when met by the press after the brief proceedings.
The IRB filed the suit against Shafee in May 2021 over five years of alleged unpaid taxes from 2011 to 2014 and 2016.
The IRB said that it had sent additional assessment notices to Shafee between May 27 and May 30, 2019 for the amounts of RM621,191.85 (2011), RM978,854.11 (2012), RM3.58 million (2013), RM1.74 million (2014) and RM1.83 million (2016), but they remained unpaid.
Shafee had denied the IRB's claim relating to the notices of additional assessment for the period, saying it was inaccurate, unlawful and tainted with mala fide (in bad faith). He added that he had submitted a revised capital statement as final consideration for tax settlement.
Should negotiations fall through, court to hear summary judgement next week
In September 2021, the IRB applied for a summary judgement to be entered against Shafee, wanting the court to make a decision based on affidavits and legal documents without the matter going to a full trial.
The matter, slated to be heard on Monday, was adjourned due to the ongoing negotiations.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain, however, reminded parties that the hearing had been postponed three times now.
She then gave parties two weeks to finalise negotiations, and in the event that an agreement can't be reached, the court will then proceed to hear the IRB's summary judgement application on Dec 15.
Part of the reason for the delay was due to imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his son Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin's tax case with the IRB, which was pending before the apex court, which may have some implications for Shafee's tax case.
However, in mid-October, the Federal Court dismissed the appeals on the grounds that the duo were not treated unfairly, and judgements compelling them to pay RM1.69 billion (Najib) and RM37.6 million (Mohd Nazifuddin) did not contravene Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.
Earlier in April, the High Court also dismissed Shafee's application for leave to file a counterclaim against the tax collectors, on the ground that his counterclaim was against parties who were not part of the case, namely the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) and the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC).
Roz Mawar, who presided over the matter, ruled that the senior lawyer's counterclaim did not arise from recovery of taxes, but alleged mala fide acts by the MACC and the AGC, which did not fall within the ambit of the rule prohibiting a counterclaim.