A former Umno Youth branch leader who joined Bersatu last month claimed today that the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has caused him problems since he joined the opposition.

Syed Kabeer Rifaee K Hamzah, 44, from Ampang, said he has not had any problems with the IRB prior to joining Bersatu.

However, he said, his problems started when he joined the party on Oct 15, after which the income tax authorities had come on him and taken a case against him to court.

“Prior to this, I did not have any problem with the IRB, and even if I was late in my tax payment, the IRB was prepared to accept scheduled payments.

“I received a call earlier from a lady, claiming to be from the IRB, who told me to make the scheduled payments, to which I agreed to do as a responsible taxpayer,” Syed Kabeer told Malaysiakini.

However, Syed Kabeer, who runs a restaurant in Ampang, said he was surprised to receive a letter from the IRB earlier this month, which was dated Oct 27, stating that a proceeding has been brought against him on Oct 2 at a magistrate’s court.

Prior to this, he said, he has not faced any problem with the IRB until the court proceeding surfaced.

Syed Kabeer is wondering whether it has to do with him joining Bersatu.

“I am wondering why the letter, which was dated Oct 27, cited a backdated court proceeding on Oct 2, about which I was never informed. Neither have I received any notice or email on this from the IRB.

“I joined Bersatu on Oct 15 and only received the letter earlier this month,” he said, and went on to question whether the proceeding was backdated after the authorities found that he had he joined the opposition party.

Syed Kabeer said he attended today's proceeding held at the Magistrate’s Court in Bangi, Selangor. He was represented by lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar.

Ordered to pay RM46,000 in tax

Syed Kabeer is being prosecuted for purportedly unpaid taxes between 2013 and 2016. Normally, he said, he paid RM8,000 in taxes to the government annually.

The court today ordered him to come up with a proposal to pay the balance of the amount said to be owed, which is RM46,000, and ordered that it be paid by Dec 26, which has also been fixed as the case management date.

Syed Kabeer also claimed that after he joined Bersatu, he had also used his eatery for people to register with the opposition party, and had noticed some unknown people taking pictures of the membership drive that was carried out.

He also claimed that he was facing hardship in renewing the work permits of his foreign workers.

Despite this, Syed Kabeer said, he was undeterred about leaving Umno and joining Bersatu.

“I still have my Umno membership card, the party which I joined in the late 1980s.

“However, I cannot stand that the party (Umno) has a president who is like this person we now have. Bersatu's membership drive has been going well in Ampang,” he said.

Six months ago, Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad complained that his associates, who are donors to Pakatan Harapan, are being targeted by the IRB.

In August this year, the IRB raided three firms owned by Mahathir's sons Mirzan, Mukhriz and Mokhzani.

The IRB has denied that the raids on the firms owned by Mahathir's sons were politically motivated.