SHAHRIZAT THREATENS TO SUE NURUL IZZAH

By : SHANNON TEOH (TMI)

DATUK Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil threatened tonight to sue Nurul Izzah Anwar for alleging that she used her position to help her family purchase eight office units in the RM6 billion KL Eco City project.

“To answer the slanderous allegation by Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar, I want to explain that I have nothing to do with the development of the KL Eco City in Lembah Pantai."

Shahrizat also said in a text message to The Malaysian Insider that Nurul Izzah should “refer all questions regarding the construction or purchase or property to the KL Eco City management.”

“I will not hesitate to take legal action against her or any other party that slanders or links me to KL Eco City,” the women, family and community development minister said in a text message sent to The Malaysian Insider by her press officer.

PKR vice president Nurul Izzah demanded earlier today that the Wanita Umno chief reveal if she had influenced the construction of the luxurious integrated urban city development in Bangsar to help her family procure the units the opposition party claims are worth RM12 million.

She had complained last year that the development had resulted in the unfair relocation of villagers and told a press conference today the project kicked off in 2007, when Shahrizat was still the MP for Lembah Pantai.

She drew links between Shahrizat and the development by pointing to PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli’s revelation today of bank documents allegedly showing that Shahrizat’s family members had used a RM250 million federal loan as leverage to obtain loans to purchase the units.

But Shahrizat told her successor to “refer all questions regarding the construction or purchase or property to the KL Eco City management.”

Shahrizat’s husband Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail and their three children own and sit on the board of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), which was awarded the loan in 2006 to run the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) cattle farming scheme.

PKR has accused Shahrizat’s family of using the RM250 million loan to finance over RM62 million in land, property and expenses unrelated to cattle farming.

DAP has also cited NFCorp’s annual report for 2009 as showing that a total of RM81,324,745 was owed to the cattle-rearing firm by other companies associated with the company’s directors.

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

Shahrizat applied for three weeks’ leave from her ministerial duties in January after new allegations of bribery surfaced and resumed work on February 8. She was called in for questioning by the MACC on the same day.

Bukit Aman recommended last month that the Attorney General charge NFCorp directors with criminal breach of trust (CBT), an opinion that was shared by de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

But the AG has since asked that the police conduct more investigations.