PUTRAJAYA HAS NO RIGHT TO STRIKE A DEAL

By : SHAZWAN MUSTAFA KAMAL (TMI)

A FORMER Senior Policeman today accused a Federal Minister of trying to indemnify Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and her family from alleged misappropriation by asking her to repay the RM250 million federal loan given to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired Kuala Lumpur CID chief, said Shahrizat need not resign as Cabinet Minister, but called on the authorities to take action against her family based on evidence obtained so far.

“The evidence exposed in the NFC scandal thus far is too obvious to be ignored,” the Former CID Chief said in a statement to The Malaysian Insider.

NFCorp is headed by Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children also hold executive posts in the company.

Mat Zain was referring to a remark made by de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, who said repayment of the federal loan was the best solution to put an end to the ongoing controversy without forcing a resignation from the women, family and community development minister.

Mat Zain said that even if the minister’s family repaid the 'entire amount of the loan', it did not change the fact that allegations of alleged financial abuse had been made. He also said Nazri’s remarks contradicted what he had said in Parliament last year.

The ex-top cop said Nazri had told Parliament in March last year that “the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail has no power to strike a deal with anyone facing criminal charges for being caught in a sticky political situation.”

Mat Zain said that not even the prime minister had the power to clear any individual from criminal culpability, and it did not matter whether Shahrizat resigned or stayed as a Cabinet minister.

He cited the case of Tan Sri Rahim Noor as an example, where the former Inspector-General of Police had resigned to take responsibility for giving Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a black eye when the latter was in prison.

“Yet months later he was charged for assaulting a detainee and he served his sentence,” said Mat Zain.

He also pointed out that Nazri had yet to look into allegations that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had dropped its RM40 million corruption case against former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik in exchange for him stepping down from all government and party positions.

“There appear to be some ‘similarities’ in the manner the government of the day handles the NFC case and that involving RTC (Rahim Thamby Chik),” said Mat Zain.

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 Shahrizat, and her family, who runs the NFCorp.

PKR has since made several revelations relating to the cattle-project scandal, including NFCorp’s purchase of two luxury condominium units in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, and the alleged use of project funds to pay for Shahrizat and her family’s personal expenses.

The opposition party has also alleged that Shahrizat’s family used nearly RM600,000 from NFCorp’s funds to settle their credit card bills in 2009.

But the management of NFCorp has maintained that the credit card expenses were solely for business purposes.

It has also denied allegations that funds from the RM250 million government loan were channelled into its accounts before the loan agreement was signed.