Asian Legal Review

An unauthorised payment surcharge imposed on an individual who participated in a pension liberation scheme was confirmed by the tax tribunal as it said the individual had not acted reasonably in entering into the scheme.

The United States’ move on Wednesday to include Southeast Asian economic powerhouses Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam on a list of countries it is scrutinising for unfair currency practices has been met with strong official pushback – as well as a healthy amount of ridicule from analysts.While nine countries – including China, and US treaty allies Japan, Germany and South Korea – were named on the latest list of countries requiring extra attention, none were identified as currency manipulators…

UK tax authority HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is warning energy businesses of the risks of being caught up in VAT fraud relating to Guarantees of Origin (GOs).

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s assurance of preferential treatment for Malay and other indigenous businesspeople when awarding contracts for the multibillion-dollar China-backed East Coast Rail Link has been sharply criticised by political analysts and the opposition for deviating from his administration’s pledge to enhance multiracialism.His government said it would continue affirmative action for Bumiputra companies – a term referring to the Southeast Asian nation’s Malay and other…

The UK’s Environment Agency (EA) has used powers introduced last year for the first time, blocking access to an illegal waste site after obtaining a restriction order against the company.

Malaysia will send back 10 shipping containers of contaminated plastic waste illegally shipped from countries including the United States and Japan, according to environment minister Yeo Bee Yin, who labelled the local importers who allowed the rubbish in “traitors” to the nation’s sustainability.“Malaysia won’t continue to be a dumping ground for the developed nations and those responsible for destroying our ecosystem with these illegal activities are traitors,” Yeo on Tuesday told reporters. …

Two people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a market place bombing in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, a military spokesman said Tuesday – an apparent retaliatory attack for the killing of a wanted rebel leader.Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have since 2004 been plagued with conflict between ethnic Malay-Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the region around a century ago.Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians,…

As the Korean war raged in the 1950s, eight students – all members of the North’s new elite, destined for a life of privilege and power – left for Moscow to study at a prestigious Russian film school. They never returned.Scattered to the corners of the Soviet Union after they chose asylum and exile to denounce the personality cult around the North’s founder Kim Il-sung, the eight of them lived as authors and filmmakers – forever separated from friends and family.“We call the places we are born…

Jakarta shopkeeper Ismail ran his kiosk selling instant noodles, eggs and instant coffee for 20 years, until last week when rioters protesting Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s re-election looted it and burned it down.The kiosk was located on Jalan Wahid Hasyim, next to the Sabang police post, and in one of six hotspots in central and west Jakarta where hundreds, mostly young men, clashed with security forces. They hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and marbles, and set fires along the street…

Newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated faith in the team that won a third term for his Liberal-National coalition, as he named his Cabinet a week after his surprise election victory.Morrison on Sunday left the bulk of his cabinet unchanged, with key ministers retaining portfolios.“I have high expectations of my ministry and clear goals for each of their roles,” he said in an emailed statement.Among those keeping their roles include Liberal Party deputy leader Josh…