“We have 30 days from March 13 to file a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal,” said lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar who represents the national oil and gas company.

Last week, judge Azahari Kamal Ramli, who is based in Kuching, dismissed Petronas’ judicial review application to declare the Sarawak state sales tax null and void.

Petronas had claimed that some parts of the state’s Sales Tax Ordinance 1998, which require the national oil company to pay the 5% sales tax on petroleum products to Sarawak, were unconstitutional.

Azahari said the power of the state to make laws for imposing the sales tax derives from Article 95B (3) of the constitution.

He added that there is no mention of such power being limited to matters on the state list.

He said the notices of assessment were also issued legally by the comptroller of the state sales tax.

“The first respondent (the comptroller of the state sales tax) also acted reasonably in issuing notices because the applicant took the stand that it is not a taxable person and had failed to submit the returns as requested by the first respondent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malik said judicial commissioner Christopher Chin had fixed April 15 to hear the Sarawak government’s suit to recover RM1.3 billon in unpaid state sales tax.

The Sarawak government and the comptroller of state sales tax filed a statement of claim last year to recover the tax owed by Petronas to the state.

Petronas has not paid the state sales tax for petroleum products under the 1998 Ordinance, which is due to the state.

The 5% state sales tax was imposed on Jan 1, 2019.