National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) Sdn Bhd chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that Najib Abdul Razak gave the approval for his project when the latter was deputy prime minister and deputy chairperson of the National Implementation Task Force Committee.

Testifying at NFC's and his defamation suits against PKR's Rafizi Ramili and news portal Malaysiakini , he said the approval was given by Najib sometime in 2007.

Testifying during examination-in-chief by M David Morais, he said then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had formed the committee for high impact projects with him (Abdullah) as chairperson.

He said as the country had to import 80 percent of its beef supply, the government had decided to form the National Feedlot Center to reduce the dependency on imports.

"A total of 10 companies bid for the project including Felda and Tabung Haji but in the end, Najib who was deputy chairperson of the committee chose us," he said.

Salleh, 67, said following this, then agriculture and agro-based industries minister Muhyiddin Yassin and then domestic trade and consumers minister Shafie Apdal were asked to supervise the project.

He said as he found it difficult to obtain loans to start the project, he went back to the government in 2010 and the second finance minister agreed to give a grant of RM250 million.

where the finance ministry was given the golden share through the appointment of three people from the government as directors in the company but without voting rights.

He explained that the project is more than just a feedlot as it was a 'farm-to-fork project' encompassing many activities from breeding and importing of cattle to various other aspects of the beef industry.

The NFC chairperson maintained that the target was towards self-sufficiency in local beef production with it increasing to 40 percent this year.

He then said that sales for NFC were increasing and in 2009 it managed to register sales of about RM10 million with RM31 million in 2010. In 2011, it managed to surpass its target of RM40 million.

Salleh however said that after the audit report on the NFC and Rafizi's press conference in March 7, 2012, sales spiralled downwards.

“In February 2012, sales were about RM7 million but following the press conference in March it went down to RM2.5 million and subsequently, until today sales are down. This shows how vicious the (opposition) attack was,” he said in testifying how the allegedly defamatory statements had affected NFC's business.

He added that a total of RM72 million of the RM250 million was placed in fixed deposit in Public Bank as this was agreed to by the finance ministry with the other portion to be spent on infrastructure.

Condo units for office-space

Salleh said that although Rafizi had also attacked his wife, Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, NFC was his and his son's business.

“I am the father and head of the family and it is an insult when Rafizi refers to it as Shahrizat and her family's business at the press conference. Shahrizat was never involved in the (NFC) business as she is not even a shareholder. She is not helping as my son and I do it ourselves from A to Z,” he said.

On the intended purchase of eight condo units at KL Eco City, Salleh said the purchase was made to enlarge the NFC office where it intended to occupy four units and possibly sell the four. The reason for this, he added, was that the existing NFC office in Phileo Damansara was too small.

He added that NFC obtained a loan to purchase the KL EcoCity units earlier in May 2011 but as the alleged defamatory attack on him was was vicious and relentless, Public Bank withdraw the loan facility in January 2012.

Salleh blamed Rafizi's press conference and the media for misrepresenting the truth without checking details.

“Our statements on the KL EcoCity units as a private investment was not interesting enough and was drowned in the sea of lies and distortions. Rafizi continued to viciously attack us with his statements of lies and defamation given at other news conferences and at political ceramah as he prepared for the 13 th general election,” he said.

Rafizi was represented by Ranjit Singh and Razlan Hadri Zulkifli while Malaysiakini was represented by K Shanmuga. The trial resumes before Judicial Commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan on Thursday.