MACC PANEL SAYS NFC PROBE TOO SLOW

By : MELISSA CHI (TMI)

THE MALAYSIAN Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) operations review panel (PPO) wants on-going investigations into the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal to be resolved 'quickly'.

“Even we feel that this has taken a long time; the longer it drags, the more it becomes a problem for many of us and the PPO thinks this case has to be resolved quickly for the interest of everyone, to be fair to the person involved.

“As an independent panel, we need to consider the interests and the welfare of those who are involved in the case,” chairman Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil told reporters today, after the board’s first quarterly meeting of the year.

The anti-graft body was tasked to investigate whether Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was involved in the decision-making process for the award of the RM250 million project.

The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), which operates the national cattle-farming project, is chaired by Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children are also directors in the company.

“The NFC case has become ‘out of control’, it has been highly politicised,” Hadenan said today.

The former auditor-general also said the Attorney-General’s Chambers has returned the investigation papers to MACC for further investigation.

“Because no decision has been made and the investigation is still going on, I cannot elaborate further,” he said at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy here.

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

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

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.