Nooryana Najwa Najib, the youngest daughter of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, attends her father's prosecution at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on July 4, 2018.
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib alleged that the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) lawsuit to claim RM10.3 million in unpaid taxes from her was blatant abuse of the law by the government.
She claimed the sum being taxed should be exempted as it was gifted to her by her husband Daniyar Kessikbayev and his family, whom she said are independently wealthy.
“It looks like in the new Malaysia, a husband giving money to wife is now considered income and need to be taxed, money from foreign sources which has always been exempt from tax is now also taxed, husband buying a house and putting wife as joint-owner is also now considered as income for the wife and is taxed,” Nooryana said in a Facebook post.
She claimed that as early as last year when the IRB began auditing her, she already submitted evidence including detailed bank transfer documents indicating that most of these were transfers from her in-laws abroad.
“I also furnished proof showing that my in-laws purchased a home directly using their funds from abroad. My husband’s family then listed me as joint-owner of the home.
“Somehow, this act of listing me as joint owner with my husband is now considered by the government as my ‘income’!” Nooryana said, adding that this forms the bulk of the “tax due” despite payment for the house not even going through her.
She pointed out that her husband and his family have been wealthy long before she met them, with her mother-in-law formerly married to one of Kazakhstan’s richest tycoons for a decade.
Kessikbayev’s mother, socialite Maira Kesikbayev, was once married to Kazakh businessman Bolat Nazarbayev, the brother of the country’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“In any case, even if you consider payments from husband to wife as income, these transfers are from abroad and should not be taxed. A smaller portion of these so-called income are also wang hantaran (wedding presents in monetary form) as well as gifts from family and friends.
“At the age of 30 now and having spent many years studying and briefly working overseas, I have never operated any business in Malaysia and have never bid for nor received any government contracts of any sort,” Nooryana said.
She said she did not think that her husband naming her as a joint-owner of the house, or the money he provides for household expenses could be considered income.
Based on this, Nooryana accused the government of being ‘hell-bent’ in pursuing her entire family, and although she does not wish to speak of it publicly, she is forced to do so for people to understand her situation.
“I do not blame the people in IRB as I know their hands are tied as there are politicians higher up that are the mastermind behind this.
“All of these evidences will come out in court one day and the world will know how ridiculous these charges are. Inshallah the truth will prevail,” she said.
On July 24, the government filed a writ of summons and statement of claim through the IRB at the High Court in Shah Alam, which named Nooryana as the defendant.
The statement alleges she failed to submit the Individual Income Tax Return Forms under Section 77 of the Income Tax Act 1967 for the years of assessment 2011 to 2017.