KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Former economy minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli’s move to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) director Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail and winding-up proceedings against the company has been amicably resolved.
The matter was confirmed by Rafizi’s lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli.
The case was scheduled to be heard before High Court Judicial Commissioner Gan Techiong today, but the hearing was vacated following a Notice of Discontinuance filed on March 3. The court subsequently struck out the case without an order as to costs.
Rafizi, the Pandan MP, had filed a suit seeking court permission to commence bankruptcy and winding-up proceedings over an alleged failure to settle the remainder of a court-ordered costs.
The court order, stemming from a defamation suit filed against Rafizi, requires payment in damages and costs, excluding interest.
Previously, it was reported that Rafizi acknowledged RM300,000 payments by Salleh and NFCorp, made through their solicitors in December 2022. The exact outstanding amount Rafizi was pursuing was not specified.
However, the defendants had asked for the interest to be set aside due to their “substantial financial liability”. Although Rafizi's lawyers rejected the request, the defendants made no further payments.
In 2016, the High Court ordered Rafizi to pay RM150,000 in damages to Salleh and RM50,000 in damages to NFCorp after allowing their suit against him. He was also ordered to pay RM100,000 in costs to Salleh.
In 2019, the Court of Appeal allowed Rafizi's appeal and ordered that the RM200,000 in damages and the RM100,000 in costs previously paid to Salleh and NFCorp be returned to Rafizi.
The court also awarded a further RM110,000 in costs at the appeal stage.
The decision was upheld by the Federal Court in April 2022, which also ordered the payment of RM70,000 in costs to Rafizi.
