PKR: NFC bosses to open supermart in S'pore

Frustrated by the inaction of the authorities, PKR has revealed that the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) is in the midst of operating an upmarket supermarket in Singapore.

The supermarket operator, Singapore-registered Farmhouse Supermarkets Pte Ltd, is jointly owned by Mohd Salleh Ismail, second son Wan Shahinur Izran and youngest daughter Wan Izzana Fatimah Zabedah.

They are family members of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli said today that Farmhouse had entered into an agreement with a luxury retail mall named Star Vista, to be its anchor tenant, taking up 28 units on the second floor.

Rafizi (left in photo) has made a site visit to the mall which is under construction at a prime location near Nanyang Technology University.

 A check with the Singapore Competition Commission revealed that the retail rental at such locations goes at S$350-500 per sq m, which means that floor area of some 3,000 sq m floor would cost Farmhouse more than S$1,000,000 or RM2.4 million per month, said Rafizi.

He said he believes that the company's financial documents show that the modus operandi used by NFC to purchase luxury condominiums in Singapore has been repeated in the supermarket business.

He said the RM250 million government soft loan intended for the National Feedlot Centre project was used as collateral to get extended loan facility from two banks - Maybank and UOB.

The supermarket is expected to be operational later this year when the mall opens, said Rafizi.
 

'Freeze personal assets, too'

Worrying that part of the government soft loan will now be sunk into the supermarket business, Rafizi demanded a freeze - not just of NFC's assets, but all the personal assets of Shahrizat's family members.

 He said it is obvious that money from the soft loan has been transferred to other companies under their names.

"PKR urges NFC to come clean on its financial commitments through Farmhouse, including the rental agreement signed. Before this, they wanted a restaurant to promote the beef, that's fair, but what about supermarket?"

During the press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Rafizi distributed copies of a recruitment advertisement placed by Farmhouse from Jan 17 to Feb 16 in the republic.

"The advertisement was published after (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) announced that NFC assets have been frozen. Even as the country boils in anger, you have the family of Shahrizat doing business as usual," he quipped.

Najib had announced the freeze of NFC assets pending the completion of investigations, but the company has claimed that it is still "business as usual".


If the authorities still fail to act, warned Rafizi, PKR will do a weekly expose on the scandal until the Parliament sits next month.

Ampang MP Zuraidah Kamaruddin, who was present, threatened to move an urgent motion in Parliament if the government does not take action.