NFCorp still owes govt RM253mil

Debt includes interest and late interest charges, says Finance Minister

PETALING JAYA: The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) still owes the government over RM253mil in loan and interest, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“Based on the Complete Statement of Federal Government Loans as of April 30, 2019, from the Accountant General’s Department of Malaysia, the outstanding loan amount by NFCorp to the Federal Government is RM253,618,455.03, which includes interest and late interest charges as of April 30, 2019,” he said in a statement.

Of this sum, Lim said RM110,840,854.28 was the amount due for repayment to the Federal

The Ministry of Finance has decided to seek full repayment of the loan.

Lim Guan Eng

Government as of the date.

It consists of RM81,987,629.65 in outstanding principal loan, loan interest of RM22,967,131.55 and late interest charges of RM5,886,093.08.

Lim also said a search conducted with the Registrar of Companies on May 17 listed Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail as the sole director of NFCorp and two company secretaries.

This differed from the information from a due diligence report by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lim added.

In the report, it showed that Mohamad Salleh and his children Izran, Izmir and Izzana as well as representatives of the federal and state governments were the board of directors of NFCorp between Dec 6, 2007 and Dec 31, 2011.

Lim noted that a Notice of Declaration of Event of Default in accordance with Clause 14 of the loan agreement between the federal government and NFCorp was issued to the company on Sept 4, 2014.

“The Ministry of Finance has decided to seek full repayment of the loan to NFCorp and this matter was referred to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) on Aug 29 last year for further action.

“The AGC is currently looking into the matter and will announce the latest development when available,” Lim added.

On Jan 9, 2008, NFCorp received a loan facility of RM250,000,000 from the Federal Government at an interest rate of 2% with a loan period of 20 years and a grace period of three years.

This loan was secured by a debenture, which was signed alongside the loan agreement on Dec 6, 2007.

NFCorp was set up in 2007 with its subsidiary National Feedlot Centre to expand the local beef industry aimed at reducing the country’s dependency on imported beef.

However, the project became embroiled in controversy after the Auditor-General’s Report 2011 noted that it was poorly managed.