Nazri says NFCorp breached loan conditions

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) has breached its loan conditions with the federal government, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today.

“In a way, there has been a constructive breach of trust. The money, which was meant for the cattle industry, was used for something else.
“The money was specifically given out based on a project given to NFCorp, that it could raise cattle and sell (it) at a cheaper price,” Nazri (picture) told reporters here.

“The loan was given just for that. If you use the money for something else, you don’t need to be a lawyer to see that there is a breach of trust, it’s so simple,” said the de facto law minister.

Nazri also denied news reports which quoted him as saying that Cabinet colleague Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil should return the RM250 million federal loan for the controversial National Feedlot Centre (NFC).

“The government can recall the loan if there has been a breach of trust. I said NFCorp must return the money, I never said her (Shahrizat), nothing to do with her,” he said.

Nazri stressed that this was his view as law minister, and that the government was still looking into the allegations of financial misappropriation in the federally-funded project.

The minister said he was concerned that the issue would “never die” no matter what the government did, and that it was a case of public interest where they wanted to know how the money was spent.

“If the investigations by MACC finds some individuals guilty of an act, an offence under Malaysian laws, they must be charged.

“Then tender out the project and may the best bidder be given the tender,” added the Padang Rengas MP.
He said Shahrizat’s resignation at this point of time would not make “much difference”, and that it might have had a bigger impact if it was done a few months earlier.

“We have to wait till investigations end...people are impatient, clueless, no direction where we are headed to,” Nazri said.

PKR has made several claims of abuse of the federal loan involving over RM62 million in land, property and expenses unrelated to cattle farming.

The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), tasked with running the national cattle-farming project, is chaired by Shahrizat’s husband Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail and their three children are directors in the company.

Shahrizat’s son Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh has insisted that the company decided it would make better use of the money by investing in property during a break in business operations due to the government’s decision to suspend construction of an abattoir that would have been rented to NFCorp.

The NFC hit the headlines following last year’s Auditor-General’s Report, and has continued to hog the limelight after it was linked to Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat and her family.

The senator applied for three weeks’ leave from her ministerial duties last month after new allegations of bribery surfaced. She has since resumed her duties.

Last Wednesday, she was called in for questioning by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced last month Putrajaya would appoint an auditor to scrutinise NFCorp’s books in light of accusations made against the company but dismissed calls for a royal commission of inquiry into the NFC.