Public Bank Bhd information had been used by PKR vice-president Mohd Rafizi Ramli to lie and misrepresent National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) and related companies, claimed NFCorp executive chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail.

 

He told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that Rafizi had used the documents to allege that he had used a government soft loan meant for the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project to obtain a bank loan to purchase eight KL Eco City shoplots.

 

However, he said this bank loan never existed, because Public Bank had withdrawn the loan offer.

 

“That is actually the real evidence of Rafizi using Public Bank documents and lie absolutely to the whole country, because I didn’t get any loan from Public Bank for Eco City.

 

“Therefore, his story of me pledging RM71.5 million of government loan to NFCorp is not true at all, and the government loan was not at risk,” he said.

Rafizi ( left ), then the PKR director of strategy, had reportedly made the allegations at a press conference on March 7.

The details of 21 bank accounts belonging to Mohamad Salleh, his children, and their companies were disclosed at the time.

 

Mohamad Salleh said the Eco City shops were purchased using personal funds, and had nothing to do with NFCorp nor the government loan.

 

In addition, he took issue with Rafizi’s claim that he had only RM421 in his personal bank account, to show that he could not have qualified for a loan.

 

He said that was in fact a joint loan account set up between himself and his son Wan Shahinur Izran for the purpose of purchasing an office in 2006.

 

'Public Bank should spoken up'

Mohamad Salleh repeatedly said Public Bank should have spoken up as the NFC scandal raged on, so that the record can be straightened.

 

He said Public Bank should have spoken up as well when Rafizi held a press conference in May that year, when Rafizi and other PKR leaders claimed that he had put pressure on Public Bank and Bank Negara to interrogate former Public Bank clerk Johari Mohamad for allegedly leaking Mohamad Salleh’s and other account information to Rafizi.

 

“Had Public Bank come out to say, ‘No, Johari doesn’t receive our sanction. No, Johari does not represent Public Bank.’ At least my name, my side of the story, can be protected,” he said.

 

Mohamad Salleh said this when testifying as a plaintiff in a suit against Public Bank for allegedly breaching regulations under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (Bafia).

 

He is claiming RM60 million in general damages, RM250 million in exemplary damages, and RM250 million in aggravated damages from the bank.

 

Other plaintiffs are NFC, National Meat and Livestock Corporation Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, and Real Food Company Sdn Bhd. The case is heard by judge John Louis O’Hara.

 

Mohamad Salleh was represented by the prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah ( right ) as lead counsel, while Public Bank was represented by Yoong Sin Min.

During cross-examination, Yoong was apparently taken dumbfounded by Mohamad Salleh’s assertions that Public Bank should have should have responded to Rafizi’s allegations.

 

“Datuk Seri, you have taken a (legal) action against the bank because you say that the bank has disclosed information about your accounts. You took the action because you said there is a breach of Bafia.

 

“Now, in the same breath, you are saying that the defendant bank ought to have a press conference, to disclose details about your matters. Is that what you are saying?” she asked.

 

She further asked Mohamad Salleh whether he had authorised the bank to make such a statement.

 

“I don’t need to request or authorise. The bank in its own right should say that, ‘In our calculations somewhere, the bank did not give the loan,” Mohamad Salleh replied.

 

'Over 110 damaging news articles'

Earlier during his examination-in-chief, Mohamad Salleh also elaborated on the damages that Rafizi had caused him.

 

He said in the following three weeks after Rafizi’s March 7, 2012 press conference, over 110 damaging news articles were published about him.

 

Five days after the press conference, he said he was charged for criminal breach of trust over the NFC scandal, and two days after the charges, his accounts under Public Bank were seized under the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2011.

 

Starved of funds after the seizure, Mohamad Salleh said that was the beginning of the collapse of his businesses.

 

He said other banks refused to deal with him too, and he and his family members - particularly his wife Shahrizat Abdul Jalil ( right ) who is also the Umno Women’s chief - faced insults from members of the public.

 

“Overall, our image in society was completely destroyed and even for my wife, people in Umno attack her too. This damage done by Rafizi on my name - through the media - during that time was a disaster.

 

“But the worst disaster of all is that Rafizi derived credibility using Public Bank documents, which is very, very unsatisfactory for me because we have the largest number of accounts - 25 accounts - in Public Bank,” he said, and raising issue with the bank for not defending him.

 

Mohamad Salleh’s cross-examination continues on March 15 next year.