KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): The hearing of the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) appeal against the dismissal of its application for summary judgment to recover RM10.3 million in alleged unpaid taxes from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's daughter Nooryana Najwa has been postponed to Dec 15.

Nooryana's counsel Nur Syahirah Hanapiah, when contacted by The Edge, confirmed the new hearing date fixed by the Court of Appeal today.

However, no reason was disclosed for the deferment of the hearing, which the court had on Aug 9 scheduled for today.

The government, via the IRB, is suing Nooryana for alleged failure to submit her individual income tax return forms to the tax agency under Section 77 of the Income Tax Act 1967, for the years of assessment 2011 to 2017.

The IRB contended that to date, Nooryana had not paid the amount of income tax owed, including increases, totalling RM10,335,292.

On Aug 26 last year, High Court judge Datuk Faizah Jamaludin dismissed the government's application for a summary judgment to be entered against Nooryana.

A summary judgment is a decision entered into by the court based on the facts of the case and written submissions alone, without hearing testimonies from witnesses. 

While Nooryana managed to set aside the application at the High Court, the IRB successfully obtained summary judgment against her father and brothers Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin and Datuk Mohd Nizar. 

The IRB sought to retrieve RM1.69 billion in additional tax arrears from Najib, RM37.6 million from Nazifuddin and RM13.16 million from Nizar. Najib and his sons have since appealed to the Court of Appeal against the summary judgment, and their applications will be heard together.