Court Reserves Decision In Nfcorp Executive Chairperson S Appeal

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The Federal Court has reserved its decision in the appeal brought by National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) executive chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail and his company in a defamation suit filed against former Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli.
A three-member bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed said they needed time to consider the submissions and would inform parties in the appeal once they were ready to deliver the decision.
The other two judges were Federal Court judges Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof.
The court heard submissions Salleh's counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, who represented Rafizi.
In the court proceedings conducted virtually today through the Zoom application, Shafee sought the court to reinstate the decision of the High Court which ordered Rafizi to pay RM200,000 in damages to Salleh and NFCorp after allowing their defamation suit against him (Rafizi).
In May 2019, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's decision after allowing Rafizi's appeal.
The defamation suit filed by Salleh and NFCorp in 2013 against Rafizi was in relation to his (Mohd Rafizi's) statement made on March 7, 2012, at a media conference at the PKR office on the purchase of KL Eco City Properties which was published by Malaysiakini.
In his submission, Shafee said Rafizi's comments and allegations did not amount to fair comment, adding that the facts and circumstances in which the comments were made displayed a certain measure of recklessness on Rafizi's part.
He said Rafizi had the time to prepare his press statement and would have the time to contact Salleh to verify the allegation.
Shafee said Rafizi called a press conference and published a statement alleging that a portion of the proceeds of the loan given to NFCorp designated for the National Feedlot project was used by Salleh and his son as leverage to finance the purchase of eight KL Eco City office units.
He also said Salleh was offered a loan by Public Bank, but he did not take the loan and the bank terminated the offer, adding that the issue of using monies as leverage never arose.
Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi RamliIt is undisputed that as a result of the publication of the statement by Rafizi, Salleh's business, credibility and reputation suffered tremendous damage and harm, he added.
Shafee also said in 2011, the auditor-general audited the non-performance of a government project under the Agriculture Ministry called National Feedlot Centre (Pusat Fidlot Nasional) and presented its findings to Parliament in October the same year and not NFCorp.
Razlan, however, urged the court to dismiss the appeal, contending that the comments made by Rafizi were fair and justifiable.
He said Rafizi's conclusion that the public fund was used as leverage for the Public Bank loan was a comment which a fair-minded person would have honestly made.
Razlan said issues of public interest ought to be discussed, adding that there was a basis for Rafizi to say what he had said and that there was no devoid of facts.

- Bernama

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