KUALA LUMPUR: Former economy minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli's move to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) director Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, along with winding-up proceedings against the company, has been amicably resolved.
This was confirmed by Rafizi's lawyer, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli.
The case was scheduled to be heard before High Court Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong on Tuesday (March 10), but the hearing was vacated following a Notice of Discontinuance filed on March 3. The court subsequently struck out the case with no order as to costs.
Rafizi, who is the Pandan Member of Parliament, had filed the suit seeking the court's permission to commence bankruptcy and winding-up proceedings over an alleged failure to settle the remainder of court-ordered costs.
The court order, stemming from a defamation suit filed against Rafizi, requires payment of damages and costs, excluding interest.
Previously, it was reported that Rafizi had acknowledged payments totaling RM300,000 by Mohamad Salleh and NFCorp, which were made through their solicitors in December 2022. The exact outstanding amount being pursued by Rafizi was not specified.
However, the defendants had asked for the interest to be set aside due to their "substantial financial liability". Although the request was rejected by Rafizi's lawyers, the defendants made no further payments.
In 2016, the High Court here ordered Rafizi to pay RM150,000 in damages to Mohamad Salleh and RM50,000 in damages to NFCorp after allowing their suit against him. Rafizi was also ordered to pay RM100,000 in costs to Mohamad Salleh.
In 2019, the Court of Appeal allowed Rafizi's appeal and ordered that the RM200,000 in damages and RM100,000 in costs previously paid to Mohamad Salleh and NFCorp be returned to Rafizi.
The court also awarded a further RM110,000 in costs at the appeal stage.
The decision was later upheld by the Federal Court in April 2022, which also ordered costs of RM70,000 to be paid to Rafizi. – Bernama
