KUALA LUMPUR: Prominent lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah failed in his bid to file a counterclaim against the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) for its suit against him to recover RM9.4 million of alleged unpaid taxes of over five years.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain today dismissed Shafee's application after she found that Shafee was not entitled to file a counterclaim against the government.
"Shafee in his submission alleged that IRB had a malicious intent in its suit against him.
"He claimed that it was a collateral attack against him for defending former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
"Shafee's counterclaim was against several government entities such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).
"Those entities were not involved in this suit... any dissatisfaction against them can be taken elsewhere," she said in her judgment.
She also ordered RM5,000 in costs to be paid by Shafee.
Shafee was represented by lawyers Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam and Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, while senior federal counsels Norzilah Abdul Hamid and Muhammad Faqrol Syazreen Mohd Ghaus appeared for the IRB.
Shafee filed the application in May 2021, saying, among other things, that the tax claim was an attack on him in his capacity as a lawyer for Najib and that he was considered an Umno lawyer even though he was not the party's lawyer.
The board filed a suit against Shafee on May 6, 2021, claiming that the senior lawyer did not settle payments in tax arrears for five assessment years from 2011 to 2016, amounting to RM9,411,708.32 of unpaid taxes.
Shafee was Najib's lead counsel in several of the latter's on-going corruption charges involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
On Oct 28, last year, Shafee was freed from two counts of money-laundering related to a RM9.5 million payment he received from former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin also acquitted and discharged him from making false declarations to the Inland Revenue Board for not including the RM9.5 million in his tax filing, for the years 2013 and 2014.