National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) was not necessarily at fault for its failure to meet the target to produce 8,000 cattle in National Feedlot Centre project back in 2010.

This is according to NFC chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail when he took the witness stand at the trial of his defamation suit against PKR's Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli and news portal Malaysiakini .

"If the feedlot centre has failed to achieve its target, wouldn't the responsibility lie on the party - NFC, which runs the project?" asked Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, the lawyer representing Rafizi.

"No, not necessarily," answered Salleh, who is the husband of Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

According to Salleh, NFC, which was provided with RM250 million soft loan and took over the RM74 million 1,500-acre feedlot centre land in Gemas, was merely an "integrator" in the feedlot centre.

"(I said NFC was merely an integrator) as the infrastructure was not prepared by the NFC. I don't have the infrastructure, I cannot run it," he told the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Salleh said the infrastructure the government failed to build and maintain included the abattoir, roads, water supply and the grass to feed the cattle.

"When we took over (the feedlot centre), the place was overgrown with acacia trees. So we asked the government to clean it.

"It was still under the process of negotiation, many things not ready," he said

Government blamed

Salleh went on to blame the government, particularly the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Ministry for causing the failure of the feedlot project.

The feedlot project was aimed at reducing Malaysia’s dependency on beef imports, but came into the spotlight in 2010 when the Auditor-General’s Report said it fell far short of its targets.

"We were ready to slaughter 8,000 cattle. We had the capacity, but we did not have the abattoir," he said.

"With due respect, it is you who took the Auditor-General's Report out of context, and not my client. Because you have selected those parts that fit your case, rather than the reality of the report that we have gone through just now," said Razlan.

"No," answered Salleh, who had claimed last week that the opposition had made wrong accusations after the report was released in 2011.

The NFC boss claimed that he wrote to the then-prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to expedite the construction of the abattoir in 2008.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who took office in May 2009, had ordered the tender of the abattoir to be frozen after he learnt that the feasibility study had yet to be conducted, according to Salleh.

"It is not fair (for the counsel Razlan) to grill me here on the abattoir," he complained to High Court judicial commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan.

A mini abattoir was built as short term measure to facilitate the operation in the feedlot centre, he said.

Salleh agreed that the loan facility agreement signed by both NFC and the government did not mention the companies owned by him and his children which played the part of marketing and distribution.

The companies include Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Meatworks and Real Food Company.

NFC and Salleh had sued both Rafizi and Malaysiakini in 2013 over a statement in relation to loans to purchase KL Eco City Properties, made by Rafizi on March 7, 2012, which was carried by the news portal on the same date.

Salleh also agreed that the agreement did not stipulate the RM250 million soft loan given to NFC could be used to purchase condominiums and other properties.

He admitted the two percent soft loan was lower than the interest rate of the commercial loan.

He emphasised that the company had complied strictly with the conditions by submitting supporting documents on the progress of the project to the drawdown of the loan.

According to him, any disbursement of the soft loan was done by the authorisation of signatories, between his son and NFC executive director Wan Shahinur Izran Salleh, and a Treasury officer named Mohd Ismail.

Salleh will continue to testify tomorrow morning. Other lawyers included Ranjit Singh, who represented Rafizi and K Shanmuga, who acted on behalf on Malaysiakini .

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