KUALA LUMPUR: National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail is puzzled over the Attorney-General’s Chambers action against him and his family over the repayment of a government-issued loan.
He claimed that he had been in correspondence with the Finance Ministry for seven months over matters pertaining to the repayment of the loan.
“I refer to the article in The Edge published on June 1, 2019, in regard to a statement of claim (SoC) by the attorney-general over the NFCorp loan, which is still outstanding.
“I wonder why the attorney-general is taking action against my family and I, when the issue of full repayment to the government has been conveyed to them since seven months ago in November 2018,” he said in a statement.
Salleh said NFCorp would repay the outstanding loan that was given by the government via “full redemption” soon and it would do this with agreement from the government.
He said the company would give its full cooperation to make sure that the issue could be resolved in the best way.
“The full repayment offer letter for the loan was sent to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, the latest of which (was sent) on May 17, 2019.
“So far, NFCorp has not received any reply,” he said.
Salleh said NFCorp had begun efforts to restore and undergo a restructuring following several discussions that were held between the company and the Agriculture and Agrobased Industries Ministry.
He said these efforts had been well received and this was proved by a recent announcement by Agriculture and Agrobased Industries Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub.
On April 22, Salahuddin said a local company had proposed a plan to buy NFCorp, and that one of the terms set for this potential company was that it would repay the Finance Ministry for the outstanding loan amount that the company owed to the government.
A spokesman from Salahuddin’s office yesterday said that the ministry could not say much about the issue as it was between the Finance Ministry and NFCorp.
Salleh said the repayment of the loan would help to ease the country’s financial burden, and he knew that the people wanted the issue of NFCorp to be resolved.
“I am confident that under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, this issue will be resolved with NFCorp paying back the outstanding loan amount to the government, and the aspirations of this project, with all its potential, being fulfilled.
“I will give my full cooperation based on the country’s legal procedures.”
The government, through the Attorney-General’s Chambers, filed a SoC on Friday and named NFCorp, Salleh and three of his children as respondents.
The SoC was to seek a full repayment from NFCorp for a loan totalling RM253.6 million that it was given to develop the beef livestock industry.
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
In March last year, the Finance Ministry revealed that NFCorp still owed the government RM248 million in soft loans.
In 2012 and 2013, the NFCorp only paid RM34.98 million and still owes RM248 million to the government.