KUALA LUMPUR: There was a conflict of interest when National Feedlot Corp Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) boss Datuk Mohamad Salleh Ismail bought eight properties on land owned by political entity Umno Youth, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar told the High Court yesterday in Mohamad Salleh’s defamation suit against her.

The land was previously owned by Yayasan Gerak Bakti Kebangsaan (YGBK), an entity under the control of Umno Youth, she told the court.

Nurul Izzah, who is the Lembah Pantai MP, said the KL Eco City project was a result of a share swap with developer S P Setia, in which YGBK would receive shares in S P Setia worth RM75 million, in exchange for 40% of shares in KL Eco City Sdn Bhd.

Questioned by Mohamad Salleh’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, as to how there was a conflict of interest, Nurul Izzah said it could not be regarded as a normal development that anyone could buy into, given that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Mohamad Salleh’s wife, was the head of the women’s wing in Umno.

Muhammad Shafee: Whatever the circumstances in the area, anyone could purchase properties there?

Nurul Izzah: Yes

If you had wanted to, you could have also purchased it?

Yes, I wish I could.

Can I ask you how does the conflict of interest arise?

This is disputed land and one of the last valuable pieces of land in Lembah Pantai meant for the development of the bumiputera community. So you can’t say this is a normal property and that anyone can buy it. I would stay far away from it.

The Lembah Pantai MP was testifying in Mohamad Salleh’s defamation suit against her and Datuk Saifuddin Nasution in his capacity as PKR secretary-general at the material time.

NFCorp is the second plaintiff in the suit filed in December last year, over a press conference held by Nurul Izzah and then PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli, on the purchase of the eight properties in KL Eco City.

Nurul Izzah said Shahrizat had early information on the planned development and this knowledge was passed on and influenced her husband to purchase the eight properties there.

She said Shahrizat was also the Lembah Pantai MP at the material time when the original settlers were transferred out of the Kg Abdullah Hukum area where KL Eco City was to be developed. Asked if she knew whether Shahrizat was directly involved in the eviction of the squatters, Nurul Izzah replied, “Not directly.”

Nurul Izzah, who was grilled by Muhammad Shafee for two hours yesterday, also disagreed with the lawyer’s suggestion that she could have communicated with Mohamad Salleh to seek clarification on the purchase of the properties.

“I don’t think so, he was very hostile, it was going to be difficult.”

She, however, agreed that none of the RM71.4 million parked under NFCorp in Public Bank was used as a guarantee or pledge to purchase the eight properties. She also told the court that although she did not use the word “leverage” at the press conference when she spoke about how public funds given to NFCorp were used to purchase the eight properties, she had meant it as so.

Muhammad Shafee: Tell us what you meant when you said that the funds channelled to the National Feedlot Centre were used to purchase the eight properties in KL Eco City.

Nurul Izzah: I arrived quite late at the PC. When I said that, I was just repeating what had been said, that funds from the National Feedlot Centre were used as leverage to purchase the eight properties in KL Eco City.

Did you use the word leverage?

No, but that was what I meant.

During re-examination by her lawyer Joshua Kevin, Nurul Izzah said given that her party colleague Rafizi Ramli had already taken pains to explain his disclosure of various bank accounts of NFCorp and its related companies during a press conference on March 7, 2012, anyone would understand that she meant the funds were used as leverage to buy the properties.

“He repeated it time and time again with copies given out to all those present. My focus was to speak on the issue of public interest,” she told the High Court.

Nurul Izzah also testified that it was premature to deem her statement defamatory given that Mohamad Salleh is suing Rafizi over contents of the same press conference separately, adding that the case has yet to go to trial. Judge Datuk Hue Siew Kheng set Feb 4 for submissions. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 8, 2015.