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PRIME MINISTER Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Malaysian government have been removed as parties in a judicial review application filed by Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, who is contesting additional tax assessments totalling over RM5 million.
The High Court today granted the application by Anwar, in his capacity as Finance Minister, and the federal government to strike out their names as the second and third respondents in the proceedings.
Presiding judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh, however, dismissed a separate application to expunge several paragraphs in Mukhriz’s affidavit that referred to both Anwar and the government. The court fixed 16 December for the substantive hearing of the judicial review.
The application stems from tax assessment notices issued by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) for the years 2017 to 2019. Mukhriz, 60, filed the judicial review on 20 December 2023, naming the IRB’s chief executive officer or director-general as the first respondent, with Anwar and the government listed as the second and third.
Mukhriz is seeking a court order to quash the IRB’s decision to issue additional assessments amounting to RM5,020,707.18, which he contends were unlawful and unreasonable. He also wants the court to declare the penalty imposed under Section 113(2) of the Income Tax Act 1967 as null and void.
Representing the government, senior federal counsel Nur Irmawatie Daud argued that the application was “scandalous, frivolous and an abuse of court process,” and that the assessments were made solely by the IRB’s chief executive officer, not influenced by other parties.
Mukhriz’s counsel, Syed Afiq Syed Albakri, countered that the second respondent (Anwar) had influenced the IRB’s decision, alleging abuse of power in the issuance of both the tax notices and a certificate under subsection 104(1) of the same Act.
Mukhriz, who is president of the Pejuang party and a former Kedah Menteri Besar, has maintained that political interference played a role in the assessments. The court had previously granted him leave to proceed with the judicial review in January, having found the matter to raise arguable grounds. - July 24, 2025
