NFC chairman Salleh Ismail said Putrajaya froze the company’s accounts and seized its assets after the Auditor-General issued his report in 2012.
The report had identified weaknesses in the implementation of the project in Gemas, known as the National Feedlot Centre.
“I suffered losses and not you (the government). I spent all my time trying to make the project a success, but the high-quality export abattoir was not built,” Salleh said under cross-examination by senior federal counsel Asliza Ali.
Salleh, 74, said this in response to Asliza’s challenge that his RM86 million counterclaim against Putrajaya was not supported by any documentation.
He said the agriculture ministry was supposed to build an abattoir capable of slaughtering 700 cattle a day.
Instead, Salleh said NFC had to construct a mini slaughterhouse which could only slaughter 30 cattle a day.
The witness said that in 2008, some 8,000 cattle were imported from Darwin, Australia, but due to a lack of capacity, the animals’ slaughter had to be done elsewhere.
“The NFC could only effectively service its government loan if the centre had the capacity to slaughter about 240,000 head of cattle a year,” he added.
NFC together with Salleh, who is also the husband of former Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, their three children and six companies owned by the family were named as defendants in the suit filed in June 2019.
The government is seeking the recovery of the loan sum of RM253.62 million together with interest at 2% per annum and default interest on RM224.77 million.
Putrajaya is also seeking a declaration that Salleh’s family is personally liable for debt repayment of RM118.04 million, allegedly misappropriated from the loan.
It said it is also entitled to claim equitable title to the properties bought using NFC’s RM250 million loan from the government.
In 2007, the government approved the loan to NFC to turn the local cattle industry into a large-scale business with the aim of helping Malaysia become self-sufficient in beef production.
Under the loan agreement, NFC was supposed to repay RM17 million annually from 2012 to 2028.
The government has taken the position that the loan was a standalone agreement and that NFC had misappropriated the money.
The defendants said the loan disbursed was tied with the project’s implementation and certain lease agreements which the company had entered into.
Hearing before Justice Anand Ponnudurai continues tomorrow.