KUALA LUMPUR: National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) executive chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail told the High Court that the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) was a viable and a good project because it involved national food security issue.
Mohamad Salleh, 74, said the supply and production of beef by NFCorp was halted when the government suspended the project from May 2009.
“If the government had adhered by Schedule 8 of the implementation agreement, which was to construct an Export Quality Abattoir (EQA) for this project, the project would have been successful.
“From the perspective of NFCorp, had the government executed what was agreed in Schedule 8 of the implementation agreement of this project, this project could take off. However, there was no abattoir built at that time,” said Mohamad Salleh, who is the husband of former women, family and community development minister Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
He also added that the implementation agreement had not yet been terminated by the government.
Mohamad Salleh said this when re-examined by his counsel Datuk K. Kirubakaran at the hearing of the government’s suit against NFCorp to recover RM253.6mil in loan repayment and interest from the company over the NFC project in Gemas.
Asked by his counsel over the failure to pay back the RM253.6mil loan to the government, Mohamad Salleh said he was unable to pay the said loan as there was no production of the beef, Bernama reported.
Mohamad Salleh who is the second defendant, however, said NFCorp had not breached the loan agreement due to failure to pay the first instalment in 2012 as scheduled.
“My Lord, it is true as stated in the scheduled we have to pay the loan after a three-year period in 2012.
“However, it depended on the production of the beef. Without the production of the beef, we were not able to pay the loan and we actually wrote to the government asking for deferment of the payment,” he added.
Under the loan agreement, NFCorp was supposed to repay RM17mil annually from 2012 to 2028.
Asked by judge Justice Anand Ponnudurai why NFCorp did not build the EQA if the government failed to build it, Mohamad Salleh said: “The cost is about RM60mil which we don’t have.”
In its suit, the government named the NFCorp as the first defendant, while Mohamad Salleh and his three children, Wan Shahinur Izran, Wan Shahinur Izmir and Wan Izzana Fatimah Zabedah, as the second to fifth defendants, respectively.
The other defendants are six companies controlled by Mohamad Salleh’s family, namely, National Meat & Livestock Corporation Sdn Bhd, Real Food Corporation Sdn Bhd, Meatworks Corporation Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, Asian Bioscience Corporation Sdn Bhd, and Technology Imageware (M) Sdn Bhd.
The government claimed that it had signed a loan agreement on a total of RM250mil with NFCorp on Dec 6, 2007, to finance the costs of establishing and operating the National Feedlot Centre in Gemas as part of its policy to develop and increase beef production. The loan was disbursed in three tranches and Mohamad Salleh’s family was claimed to have made 10 withdrawals amounting to RM18.51mil from Jan 24, 2008, to Jan 3, 2011.
The hearing continues on March 15 next year.
