NFC scandal: MACC blind to corruption — Kim Quek

DEC 15 — Many people may be wondering why the MACC washed its hands over the investigation of the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal and passed the buck to the police. And now, MACC chiec commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed gives us his answer.

Speaking to Sin Chew Daily reporters after an international conference on December 14, Abu Kassim explained that the complaint that MACC received pertained to abuse of a public loan, not abuse of authority, and hence it is a case under the Criminal Procedure Act to be investigated by police, and not a corruption case that falls under the jurisdiction of the MACC.

I presume Abu Kassim was referring to the complaint about the use of part of a RM250 million government soft loan to purchase luxurious condos and other personal properties by the family of Wanita Umno chief and Minister of Women, Welfare and Community Development Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

But hasn’t Abu Kassim been acting rather amateurish as the nation’s top corruption buster, akin to the blind man touching the proverbial elephant?

Like an elephant, which is made up of many features, this NFC scandal is a multi-faceted monster that gobbles up large quantities of public funds.

PROJECT RIDDLED WITH CORRRUPTION 

A major government project was dubiously awarded to an incompetent and unqualified minister’s family, for which a huge government soft loan was granted and disbursed under highly questionable circumstances that enable the project recipient to squander on improper purposes, resulting in a project failure that not only thwarted an important food production scheme, but also imperilled the recovery of such public funds.

Needless to say, in such a scandalous project failure, more than one minister, and more than one ministry’s officials, could be incriminated in offences that encompass corruption, collusion, breach of trust and criminal negligence — in the award of project and subsequent disbursement of funds.

In this entire chain of criminal acts, the purchase of condos is only one link — not the most important one.

The bigger question is: why was the project awarded to Shahrizat’s family? Who decided it?
The next question is: who should be responsible for failing to control the proper disbursement of loans, and for failing to monitor the proper utilisation of the funds?  

On the first question, the culprits at the forefront are present and past ministers of agriculture and agro industries (Noh, Mustapa Mohamed, Muhyiddin), and present and past ministers of finance (Najib, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), for having been involved in the award of project and subsequent disbursement of funds.

POLITICAL HANDSHAKE?

Apart from these apparent culprits at the protocol level, what about possible behind-the-scene political machinations linked to the project? Readers will recall that Shahrizat was engaged in a heated contest against her predecessor Rafidah Aziz as Wanita Umno chief in the last Umno party election and succeeded in ousting the latter that many observers believed as fulfilling the wishes of the top party leadership. Under the circumstances, it may not be entirely far-fetched to ask whether there was any link between this RM250 million project and Shahrizat’s successful mission to oust Rafidah. This is an aspect that no conscientious investigator should overlook in his probe on the scandal.

On the second question of disbursement of the loan that resulted in splurging of funds for improper purposes, both the Agro Ministry and Finance Ministry cannot possibly shirk their responsibility, as it is under their joint scrutiny and approval that every disbursement was made. For that reason, the two ministers, as well as officials concerned from the two ministries, have to be probed.

With such an abundance of corrupt activities going on at the political leadership as well as the administrative level, can you imagine our MACC telling us that there is nothing it can do regarding the scandal?

Can you imagine Abu Kassim telling Sin Chew reporters that the problem with people is that they don’t understand the law and cannot distinguish white from black and they simply tango with the opposition to condemn the MACC?

Abu Kassim further said: “Our biggest problem is how to change people’s mindset and how to convince them that MACC is independent. Under the present political atmosphere, corruption is politicised and MACC’s alleged lack of independence is used to topple the government.”

TREATING PEOPLE LIKE FOOLS

Hearing such comments, one can’t help feeling that Abu Kassim has taken the people as ignorant fools.

If the MACC is independent, can Abu Kassim tell us why there has been no response whatsoever over the mountains of evidence and numerous reports lodged with the commission over the now world famous timber baron of Sarawak, Taib Mahmud the chief minister? A Sarawak NGO called Movement for Change Sarawak (MoCS) submitted a two-inch thick report in March documenting Taib Mahmud’s alleged corruption — no response to date. Sarawakian Willie Kajan submitted his second report by travelling all the way to Putrajaya in January — no response. Sarawakians James Wong and John Brian submitted their reports in June and August 2010 at Shah Alam and Putrajaya respectively — no response. Many others including political party leaders have also submitted their reports to the MACC and met with the same fate.

As for the current NFC scandal, why is Abu Kassim acting like a blind man, oblivious to the swirling controversy that has exposed voluminous evidence of corruption and abuse of power through numerous press conferences and Internet postings over the last two months? Why is it that Abu Kassim can’t see the word “corruption” when it is staring at him from all directions?
We understand why Abu Kassim (and the MACC under him) is acting the way he does, but at least spare the people the insult of treating them like fools.