PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli was served with a bankruptcy notice following his failure to pay National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) and its executive chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail RM306,999.17 in costs and damages from a defamation suit.
However, the Pandan MP claimed that the notice, which was published in Berita Harian's classified section yesterday, was a "cheap ploy" to humiliate him.
He accused Salleh of half-heartedly trying to serve the notice on him
Rafizi said when he was unable to receive the notice, Salleh then obtained the court's consent to advertise the notice.
"By obtaining the notice from the court, this is to give the impression that I am dishonest because I had received public donations to settle his claims but had kept the money instead of paying him.
"In addition, this has become fodder for Umno cyber troopers' cheap politicking by accusing me of being bankrupt," he said in a statement today.
According to a report by the New Straits Times last night, the notice was dated July 13 and came into effect by an order dated Sept 12.
It was reportedly obtained by Salleh and NFC at the Shah Alam High Court and states that Rafizi had seven days to object to the bankruptcy proceedings that they had initiated against him.
The daily also quoted Salleh as saying that he and NFC's legal team had contacted Rafizi three times, but they did not receive any response. Hence, the bankruptcy proceedings were initiated.
In a ruling last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had found Rafizi liable of making defamatory statements regarding Salleh and NFC.
The court ordered him to pay RM150,000 to Salleh and RM50,000 to NFC for damages. In addition, the court awarded RM100,000 for the cost. An appeal to overturn the decision is still pending in court.
Following a public appeal, Rafizi had managed to raise RM1.5 million in ten days to pay the damages.
However, Rafizi he had been waiting for the notice from Salleh and NFC to find out the final amount that he would have to pay, which would include the interests incurred each day.
He pointed out that Order 10 (1) of the Rules of High Court 2012 requires that such notices be served upon him personally or by registered post.
He claimed that this means Salleh's lawyers would need to make an appointment with him to serve the notice to him personally, so he could sign off as an acknowledgement of receipt.
It is only when the court deems this method of serving a notice to him impractical that Order 62 (5) applies, whereby a substituted service such as by advertising the notice in a national newspaper is allowed.
Rafizi claimed that he was advised by friends who are lawyers that invoking Order 62 (5) entails showing to the court that Rafizi could not be traced for reasons that such as his address no longer existed or that there is no knowledge of where he lived.
Rafizi noted that advertising in a newspaper also incurs a high cost.
"Therefore, I'm not surprised that Salleh (photo) and NFC had picked a strange and costly method whereas the usual method is to simply contact me or come to my office.
"To me, they intended to humiliate and insinuate that I could not be trusted because I had raised funds but did not settle their claims [...]
"Unfortunately, Salleh never tried the easy way of contacting me for an appointment to serve the notice stating how much I had to pay.
"His party merely left a letter at my house purporting that they had come but I was not at home. Then they left another letter demanding that I be at home at a date and time they had set for me to receive the notice they were trying to deliver," he said.
Rafizi said he had only seen the notice - the same one published in newspapers - on Sept 19 when he reached home at about 1 am. The court order was dated Sept 14 and gave him until Sept 21 to respond.
However, he said the notice was only posted at his door on Sept 18 and he did not see it until the next morning.
In the night of Sept 20 and had court cases to attend to on Sept 21 while Sept 22 is the Awal Muharam holiday when the court was closed.
He made no mention of his activities during the business hours of Sept 19 and Sept 20 in his statement.
Meanwhile, Rafizi said his lawyer is calculating the new sum that he needs to pay including the latest interests incurred.
A cheque will be issued to Salleh and NFC tomorrow, and the issue of bankruptcy should no longer arise, he said - Mkini
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