KUALA LUMPUR (March 17): National Feedlot Corp Sdn Bhd's (NFC) net worth would be between RM85 and RM95 million if it was still in operation today, an expert witness told the court in the trial between the cattle farmer, its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail and nine others.

The defendant's first witness Andrew Heng, a partner in the firm Ferrier Hodgson MH, testified that the net worth of RM85-RM95 million was based on his projections. Heng was commissioned by NFC to conduct a review of a due diligence report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia.

Heng said that his projections were based on the assumption that the government had made good in its obligation to build an Export Quality Abattoir (EQA) to carry out livestock farming and beef production.

"We did an assessment based on projections in 2012 and we extended it to 2021-2024. We used a method known as the discounted cash flow method in our report dated April, 2020. Had it been operating (and) had the quality abattoir been built… its net worth would have been between RM85 and RM95 million," he said upon examination from lawyer Datuk K Kirubakaran, who represents the defendants.

Heng, who was giving his expert testimony before Judicial Commissioner Anand Ponnudurai, added that a similar report done by audit firm KPMG at the behest of the defendants had also projected an almost identical amount for NFC's net worth.

Heng said his findings had shown that NFC failed to meet its operational targets mainly because the government did not build the EQA and it eventually called off the project in 2012.