Shafee’s appeal to bring counterclaim in LHDN’s RM9.41mil suit dismissed

The Court of Appeal has struck out lawyer Shafee Abdullah’s bid to bring a counterclaim in a suit for tax arrears brought by LHDN against him. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has struck out lawyer Shafee Abdullah’s appeal for leave to file a counterclaim in a RM9.41 million suit brought by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) against him to recover arrears in taxes.

A three-member bench chaired by Justice Hanipah Farikullah ruled that the appeal was incompetent as the subject matter was not appealable.

“Both parties have agreed during submission that the matter is not appealable under Section 3 of the Courts of Judicature Act,” she said.

The provision states that only matters which finally dispose of the rights of parties are appealable.

Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Azimah Omar and Wong Kian Kheong.

The court ordered Shafee to pay RM10,000 to LHDN in costs.

Lawyers Rajan Navaratnam, Farhan Shafee and Wee Yeong Kang represented Shafee while revenue counsel Al-Hummidallah Idrus, Norhisham Ahmad, Norzilah Hamood and Faqrol Syazreen Ghause appeared for LHDN.

Rajan later told reporters that Shafee is at liberty to file a fresh suit.

On April 13 last year, judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain refused Shafee leave to file a counterclaim in the suit.

Shafee had contended that the lawsuit had been brought in bad faith and was a collateral attack on him for defending a former prime minister Najib Razak.

Roz Mawar, however, said such a claim ought to have been against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), but neither were parties to the suit.

She said Shafee could take up the matter against the two agencies in separate proceedings.

LHDN had brought its suit against Shafee in 2021 for an alleged tax arrears of RM9.41 million.

On Dec 21, Roz Mawar entered summary judgment against Shafee, compelling him to pay RM5.5 million to the tax authority for unpaid taxes covering between 2011 and 2016.