National Feedlot Corporation trial to start in January
The High Court has fixed five days from Jan 13 to hear the government’s suit against the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), its chairman Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, his three children and six related companies.
In the suit, the government is seeking to reclaim the RM253.6 million loan, including interest, that the 11 defendants had taken to develop the beef industry.
Judge S. Nantha Balan, in chambers, fixed Jan 13 to 15, 17 and 20 as the trial dates.
The judge ordered Salleh and the others to file their defence in relation to the suit by July 25.
Senior federal counsel Mohd Radhi Abbas, who acted for the government, said the court had fixed Aug 22 and Dec 18 for further case management of the suit.
“The government has given a month (for the defendants) to file their defence. So they should file it by July 25,” he said after the matter came up for case management.
On May 31, the government had, through the Attorney-General’s Chambers, filed the suit naming NFCorp, Salleh — who is the husband of former Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil — his three children — NFCorp chief executive officer Wan Shahinur Izran Mohamad Salleh, and directors Wan
Shahinur Izmir and
Wan Izzana Fatimah Zabedah — and the six companies as defendants.
The six companies, which are also controlled by Salleh’s family, are National Meat & Livestock Corp Sdn Bhd, Real Food Co Sdn Bhd, Meatworks Corp Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, Asian Bioscience Corp Sdn Bhd and Techknowlogy Imageware (M) Sdn Bhd.
According to the statement of claim, the government wants Salleh’s family to be personally liable for the debt repayment via court declaration, as well as RM118.04 million misappropriated, together with any undeclared profit and income arising from it.
The government contended that out of the RM118.04 million, National Meat & Livestock Corp Sdn Bhd had used RM9.76 million to buy two residential units at One Menerung Residence.
The document alleged that NFCorp had paid RM28,000 to Wan Shahinur for an office lot rental at Solaris Mont Kiara at a substantially higher rate than the monthly instalment of RM4,452 paid by the latter for the unit. It also revealed that NFCorp paid a rental of RM8,240 for an office lot owned by Salleh and Wan Shahinur at the same building.
The document stated that the first defendant (NFCorp) had paid RM1.8 million to business consultant Shamsubahrin Ismail for undisclosed purposes.
It stated that RM3.36 million was used to buy two land parcels in Putrajaya and RM1.51 million was used to partially pay for the acquisition of a four-storey shoplot in Solaris Mont Kiara by Wan Shahinur and Wan Izzana.
In January 2008, NFCorp received a loan facility of RM250 million from the government at an interest rate of two per cent with a loan period of 20 years and grace period of three years.
The loan was secured by debenture, which was signed alongside the loan agreement on Dec 6, 2007.
NFCorp received the loan to help develop a national beef valley, but came in for criticism in 2012 when it was revealed that it had used it for other purposes, including the acquiring of property.
On May 20, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said that based on the Complete Statement of Federal Government Loans as of April 30 from the Accountant General’s Department, the outstanding loan amount was RM253,618,455.03.
This included interest and late interest charges, he had said in a statement.
Lim’s statement had prompted Salleh to issue a statement stating that a new buyer of NFCorp was willing to fully settle the loan within three months pending approval by the federal government of NFCorp’s restructuring.