Maybank Singapore withdraws suit against NFC chairman, children over housing loans

Maybank Singapore Limited has withdrawn its lawsuit against National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) chairman Mohamad Salleh Ismail and his two children for allegedly defaulting on two housing loan facilities amounting to S$2,534,203.41 for properties in Singapore.

Salleh is the husband of former women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Lawyer Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman, representing Salleh and his children, Wan Shahinur Izran and Wan Izzana Fatimah Zabedah, said both parties had reached a settlement.

"High Court judge Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad allowed the lawsuit to be withdrawn with liberty for the plaintiff (Maybank) to file afresh and with no order as to costs," he said when contacted by reporters after the proceedings which took place online.

Yesterday had been fixed for the hearing of Maybank Singapore's application for a summary judgment, which was also attended by counsel Tan Hui Ru representing the bank.
 
On July 19 last year, in its statement of claim, Maybank Singapore Limited said that at the request of the defendants, the plaintiff had provided a housing loan for a piece of property in Orchard Scotts, Singapore, totalling S$4.3 million, subject to the terms and conditions in the offer letters dated Nov 20, 2009, and Nov 10, 2017.

It claimed that the defendants had defaulted on paying the monthly instalment of S$7,225 and the plaintiff had then withdrawn the loan and demanded full payment of S$3.94 million – the amount owed and payable as of June 22, 2018, together with the accrued interests.

The plaintiff claimed that it had exercised its rights under the mortgage and obtained a court order dated Jan 23, 2019 from the Singapore High Court to repossess the property and sell it through an auction on June 28, 2019, for S$3.2 million. However, it said this was insufficient to settle the outstanding amount of the loan, which was S$1.3 million.

For the second housing facility, the plaintiff claimed to have granted a housing loan amounting to S$5.3 million to the first and second defendants (Salleh and Wan Shahinur Izran) for the purchase of a piece of property in Central Boulevard, Singapore, with a monthly instalment of S$8,700.

The plaintiff alleged that both defendants failed to settle the loan arrears and demanded payment of S$5.05 million from the amount due as of June 4, 2018, together with the accrued interests.

Exercising its rights under the mortgage, the plaintiff obtained a court order dated Jan 23, 2019 from the Singapore High Court to repossess the property before selling it through a personal treaty sale for S$4.68 million.

According to the plaintiff, the sale price was insufficient to settle the amount due under the loan, hence it demanded that the first and second defendants pay a total of S$1.16 million together with the accrued interests.

The plaintiff applied to the court to enter a judgment against all of the defendants including demanding the amount owed totalling S$1.36 million from the three defendants and S$1.16 million from the first and second defendants.