PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here has dismissed appeals by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his son Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib in relation to summary judgments that ordered them to pay RM1.69bil and RM37.6mil respectively to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) for purported tax arrears.

       In the unanimous decision, a three-man panel chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said they found no merit in the appeals.

       “The two High Court judges did not make any errors that needed to be rectified by this court,” he said here yesterday.

       The panel also ordered RM10,000 as costs for each of the appeals.

       Other judges on the bench were Justices Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Supang Lian.

       Earlier, the judges heard submissions from both parties in an online proceedings via Zoom.

       Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who represented the appellants, also asked for the court to allow an interim stay on the effect on the decision as his clients wanted to appeal the decision at the Federal Court.

       Justice Abdul Karim allowed the stay application on condition that the notice of appeal would be filed by this coming Tuesday.

       Najib and his son were appealing against summary judgments granted by the High Court in relation to their tax suits.

       On July 22 last year, High Court judge Justice Ahmad Bache ordered Najib to pay RM1,692,872,924.83 in tax arrears accrued between 2011 and 2017.

       In granting the summary judgment, the judge said there were no triable issues to warrant a full trial.

       On July 6, 2020, Mohd Nazifuddin was ordered to pay RM37,644,810.73 to LHDN for tax arrears accrued between 2011 and 2017.

       High Court judge Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim allowed the summary judgment, and said it was proven that LHDN’s claim was “clear and obvious”.

       A summary judgment is when a court makes its decision without going to a full trial.

       Najib and Mohd Nazifuddin were also represented by counsel Muhammad Farhan Shafee, Wee Yeong Kang, Mohamed Reza Rahim and Hannah Kam Zhen Yi.

       Senior revenue counsel Dr Hazlina Hussain and revenue counsel Norhisham Ahmad and Al Hummidallah Idrus appeared for LHDN.

       Meanwhile, Najib, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and the owner of Lebanese jewellery firm Global Royalty Trading SAL, Samer Halimeh, are scheduled to inspect 11,991 jewellery pieces kept in more than 90 boxes at Bank Negara Malaysia from Oct 25 to Nov 5.

       The items were among valuables seized by the police from premises belonging to Obyu Holdings Sdn Bhd at Pavilion Residences in May 2018.