NFCORP BOSS SAYS NO LOANS TAKEN

By : SHANNON TEOH

NATIONAL Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail denied today leveraging off RM250 million in public funds to finance private investments.

The husband of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil filed a police report accusing PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli of slander and breaching financial laws by distributing private banking details of company directors, which include the Wanita Umno chief's three children, and other companies belonging to them.

"Rafizi had slandered his financial standing by insinuating that he was not credit worthy for loans, that he had taken personal loans leveraging on a government soft loan deposit... for his private investments in KL Eco City... when in actual fact no loan was ever taken for these investments," NFCorp said in a press statement.

“Rafizi (picture) had misled the media and public with his deliberate distortion of the facts. There was never any loan taken for the KL Eco City investments,” Mohamed Salleh added.

NFCorp, tasked with running the controversial National Feedlot Centre (NFC) that the government recently said it will tender out to another company, had filed a complaint with Bank Negara last month against the bank that provided Rafizi the information it says breaches the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (BAFIA).

In its police report today, NFCorp said Rafizi broke the law by revealing banking details of 21 entities including the NFCorp and other companies owned by Shahrizat's family such as National Meat and Livestock Corporation, Real Food Company and Agroscience Industries and the personal bank details of company directors.

If guilty, Rafizi could face a jail term of up to three years and a RM3 million fine. He had accused NFCorp directors on March 7 of parking a RM250 million loan for the NFC in two banks to leverage personal loans for high-end property including eight shop office units at the luxurious KL Eco City development in Bangsar worth RM12 million.

According to documents from one bank, which Rafizi said were provided by a wistleblower, NFCorp directors made two deposits totalling RM71,486,589 under the company’s name and another deposit totalling RM1,872,254 under National Meat and Livestock Corporation.

Two other documents showed that her family members had obtained a credit facility worth RM197,338 under Agroscience Industries, a RM4,391,240 loan for a property purchase and that Mohamad was named as guarantor for another loan of RM663,743.

NFCorp also said today its lawyers will sue the bank which failed to comply with BAFIA, on top of earlier libel suits already filed against Rafizi and Wanita PKR chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

The firm hit the headlines last year when the Auditor-General reported that it had missed production targets.

Shahrizat, who was a minister when the project was awarded to her family in 2006, quit the Cabinet earlier this month after allegations she and her family used a RM250 million soft loan meant for the cattle rearing project to finance land, property and other unrelated expenses.

On March 12, Mohamed Salleh, pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to two counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM49.7 million with regards to the purchase of two condominium units.

He also pleaded not guilty to two other charges under the Companies Act.