Rafizi lied to the public, say NFCorp lawyers

PKR strategy director Mohd Rafizi Ramli had allegedly lied about confidential banking information which resulted in a "severe loss of income" to National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp), according to lawyers representing the company.

NFCorp was the company in charge of the controversial cattle farming project National Feedlot Centre that made headlines in 2011.

Following the case management at the KL High Court over the defamation case NFCorp brought against Rafizi, lawyers for the plaintiffs today said in a statement that the Pandan parliamentarian now has to answer in court over "wrongful allegations" made against NFCorp and its chairman Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail.

The case management was called today at the KL High Court before Justice Datuk John Louis O'Hara for the suit between plaintiffs and Mohamad Salleh, and defendants Rafizi and MKini Dotcom Sdn Bhd.

The next case management was set for June 3.

False accusation resulted in public outrage

According to the lawyers, Rafizi had on March 7, 2012, alleged at a news conference that Mohamad Salleh had defaulted on the servicing of loans for eight KL Eco City office lots with arrears from March 2011 to February 2012, and therefore, was apt to jeopardise a government loan deposit placed at the bank.

However, the lawyers said no loans had ever been taken by the plaintiffs from Public Bank Berhad for the purchase of the KL Eco City properties that formed the basis of the "false accusations" hurled by Rafizi.

This accusation, said NFCorp, resulted in public outrage and a severe loss of income.

"There could never have been any loan service defaults or arrears from March 2011 as alleged by Rafizi as the Sale & Purchase Agreements (SPAs) for the eight KL Eco City properties were only signed on 15 Dec, 2011. This date underscored that there could never have been any loans taken or disbursed by any bank for the properties prior to the material time when the SPAs were signed," said lawyer for the plaintiffs Hariharan Tara Singh.

"How could there have been any defaults in the servicing of non-existent loans? Or any peril to the government loan deposit placed at the bank? What detrimental leverage from property loans would Rafizi be talking about?

"Therefore, Rafizi lied, distorted, misrepresented and fabricated to the public, and will now have to justify his allegations specifically on these matters in his defence in the KL High Court," he said.

Background of the defamation suit

Last June 3, NFCorp and Mohamad Salleh filed the suit, naming Rafizi and Malaysiakini as defendants.

The suit was to seek damages both plaintiffs suffered due the "lies, distortions, misrepresentations and fabrications, and the subsequent slander by the defendants" due to the exposure of confidential banking information.

They seek general, exemplary and aggravated damages, interests, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

Earlier in April, a mediation process between the two parties broke down, with Rafizi's lawyer Ng Siaw Sun stating that both parties' proposal to resolve the issue "do not match".