PUTRAJAYA, Oct 28 — Toh Puan Nai’mah Abdul Khalid, the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin was granted a temporary stay by the Court of Appeal today to delay payment of RM313.82 million in income tax arrears to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) pending the disposal of her appeal.

A three-judge panel comprising justices Datuk Supang Lian, Datuk Hashim Hamzah and Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing unanimously allowed Nai’mah’s application for an ad interim (temporary) stay until her appeal against a High Court’s decision is resolved.

Delivering the court’s decision today, Court of Appeal Judge Dr Choo, said Nai’mah’s application was meritorious.

The Shah Alam High Court, last month, refused to grant Nai’mah an interim stay of an order compelling her to pay RM313.82 million in additional tax. The hearing of her appeal at the Court of Appeal has yet to be fixed.

She sought the interim stay, pending the outcome of her application for leave to commence a judicial review, which challenges the IRB’s additional tax assessments for the year 2018.

Nai’mah filed her application on Aug 13, this year, in an attempt to quash the IRB's demand for RM313.82 million for tax arrears.

In her supporting affidavit, Na’imah claimed that the tax assessment against her was based on unsubstantiated allegations of over RM700 million in undeclared income for the year 2018, which she described as baseless.

She also alleged that the IRB had failed to refund RM3.807 billion in taxes owed to her from the year 2017 and prior.

During the proceedings, her lawyer, S. Saravana Kumar argued that while Nai’mah was willing to pay her taxes, she was unable to do so as her accounts were frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

He also said if a stay is not granted, IRB may take civil action against her to recover the money and she may be subjected to bankruptcy proceedings.

Senior federal counsel from IRB Mohamad Hafidz Ahmad, countered that no special circumstances justified granting an interim stay to Nai’mah.

When Judge Hashim asked how the government expects Nai’mah to pay the RM313.8 million when her accounts were frozen, Hafidz said taxpayers like Nai’mah would have to find ways to settle the sum.

The High Court has fixed Feb 12, 2025, for hearing Nai’mah’s leave application to commence judicial review. — Bernama