Kit Siang promises NFC RCI if Pakatan takes power
Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Lim Kit Siang has pledged a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the scandal-hit RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) take over federal government.
The DAP parliamentary leader (picture) said this in a speech last night after Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, rejected calls for such a panel to investigate the project run by Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family.
“Who is Muhyiddin to reject the call for a RCI when Muhyiddin himself, as the Agriculture and Agro-based Minister who approved the controversial project back in 2006, would himself be one of the subjects of any RCI investigation?
“I have discussed with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and he has agreed that a new PR government in Putrajaya... will establish a RCI into the RM336.64 million NFC “cattle condo” scandal,” he said at the Perak PR Chinese New Year open house in Gopeng.
A copy of the veteran opposition leader’s speech was emailed to The Malaysian Insider this morning.
Shahrizat has taken three weeks leave as Women, Family and Community Development Minister to enable the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate whether she had a role in awarding the project to her family although the controversy is over the company spending money on properties rather than the cattle project.
PKR has made a series of exposes alleging that the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) that runs the national cattle farming project has spent at least RM27 million on land, property and expenses unrelated to cattle farming.
But NFCorp has insisted that the purchases were an investment while waiting for the government to complete an abattoir.
It has also insisted it was “unreasonable” to suggest it would abuse public funds as the RM250 million is in the form of a loan and non-payment would result in the owners — Shahrizat’s husband and three children — being jailed or declared bankrupt.
Lim said last night “it smacks of conflict of interest on Muhyiddin’s part and he should exclude himself from any decision-making as to whether there should be a RCI into the cattle condo scandal, instead of being so gung-ho in opposing the proposal.”
“The 13th General Elections is around the corner. Let Malaysians regardless of race, religion or political affiliation speak loud and clear (if) they want a RCI to reveal the full details of the true horror stories of the RM336.64 million “cattle condo” scandal.
Muhyiddin had claimed that there is no need for an RCI as on-going investigations by the police and the MACC are sufficient.
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