KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): The Butterworth High Court on Monday (Oct 17) granted the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) application to enter a summary judgement against fugitive Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) over RM1.053 billion in unpaid tax since 2013.
Judicial commissioner Kenneth Yoong Ken Chinson St James ruled that there are no triable issues to be decided and hence, there was no need for the court to have a hearing of the matter.
In his 59-page judgement, St James ruled that a suit filed against Jho Low in Kuala Lumpur for US$1.053 billion had nothing to do with the tax claim sought by the IRB.
He said that even though 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which filed the suit, is owned by the Malaysian Government through Minister of Finance Inc, 1MDB itself is not the Malaysian Government.
“1MDB and the IRB are different entities. In the suit filed by 1MDB, there are five plaintiffs, including 1MDB, and there are six defendants. Jho Low is the first defendant in the 1MDB suit, and there are five other individual defendants.
“In the 1MDB suit, the claim against Jho Low is under the causes of action of fraud, improper receipt of all five plaintiffs’ monies (not just 1MDB’s money), fraudulent misappropriation, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy to injure or defraud.
“In this tax claim, however, the IRB sues him for not paying his assessed tax, under the statutory regime governed by the Income Tax Act. The respective causes of action are distinct and unrelated, and they arose out of 1MDB and the IRB each exercising different rights as plaintiffs. The monies claimed in the 1MDB suit are unrelated to this statutory claim for tax as a debt due to the IRB,” the JC said.
He further ruled that the fact that Jho Low does not have bank accounts here or that he did not conduct business in Malaysia during the taxable period are not reasons for the fugitive to be excluded from paying tax.
“To my mind, the defendant (Jho Low) does not need to have a bank account in Malaysia to be obligated to pay tax. In other words, not having a bank account in Malaysia is not a defence to a tax claim. Similarly, the defendant does not need to conduct business in Malaysia to be obligated to pay tax. Put differently, not conducting business in Malaysia is not a defence to this tax claim,” he added.
For these reasons, St James found that there is neither a triable issue nor “some other reasons” (the 1MDB suit) for there to be a trial to determine this statutory tax claim.
“I therefore allow the IRB’s application to enter judgement for RM1,053,972,936.58, with interest at 5% per annum, from the date of this judgement to the date of full realisation,” he said.
The JC also ordered Jho Low to pay costs of RM15,000.
On Monday, with regard to the 1MDB suit, the company along with its subsidiary Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd obtained a court order against Jho Low and his father Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng for them to be committed to prison for not abiding by the High Court order for a Mareva Injunction imposed on them to freeze their assets to the sum of US$1.43 billion.
Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz also ordered the duo to pay costs of RM5,000. The Mareva injunction was first obtained ex-parte on March 15 this year and affirmed in April.