News by Hafiz Yatim

National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFC) and its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail have today been given leave by the Federal Court to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss his defamation suit against former Pandan Member of Parliament and PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli.

Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said in a statement that Idrus owes the public an explanation, and that the A-G should state whether the prosecution is still interested in appealing against the former prime minister's sentence in the “high-profile case”.

Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim said this shows that the money which was deposited into the bank account of the company that Tengku Adnan controls is meant for him and not for Umno and that he received it for his own interest.

The source said the 10-day duration to file the petition of appeal had lapsed.

Justice Datuk Aliza Sulaiman in her decision ruled that the court cannot bar or impose any injunction against the government or its public officers from performing its duties.

Lawyer Muhammad Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid, whose firm Messrs Zharif Nizamuddin was appointed by the MACC late last year to help oversee its forfeiture application against Tarek Obaid, PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI), PetroSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd (PSOSL) (Incorporated in Barbados) and two others, confirmed this.

Former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor: They [were] paid between RM2,000 [and] RM4,000 a month and I prepared the budget [for which] RM100,000 was given every month by her. I do not know whether the budget came from the Prime Minister's Department, but I got the amount directly from her every month. The cyber-trooper team was set up in 2012 and ceased in 2018.

Umno Pekan's counsel Datuk M Reza Hassan confirmed the decision with theedgemarkets.com, saying the court rejected the application as the sum was no longer in its bank account. The division is helmed by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the Pekan Member of Parliament.

Today, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Mustaffa P Kunyalam is expected to finish Mohd Hazem’s reexamination before senior DPP Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram starts asking the witness several questions

The assurance was made again today by PSOSL counsel Alex Tan to Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Malaysia's prosecution team, after the latter expressed concern upon learning that Tarek Obaid, a Saudi national who is CEO of PSOSL’s parent PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI), had disputed the judge’s July 16 order.