Claiming this was revealed during the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) probe on the cattle-farming scandal, the PAS leader repeated demands for the committee to reveal details of its findings by making the minutes of its meeting public.
The Pokok Sena MP expressed suspicion over PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid’s apparent reluctance to reveal the committee’s findings and asked if the Umno leader was “under pressure”.
“I have sought for the meeting minutes before and the response that Azmi first gave was that an MP must first write in to him to request for the documents.
“Then he suddenly said that the request must come from the opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“Then, again he turned around to say that Anwar, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP’s Lim Kit Siang must each send in separate letters to request for the minutes... I see as if there is something pressuring him in this matter,” Mahfuz said at a press conference here.
The PAS leader pointed out that Azmi had admitted shortly after the PAC’s probe on the NFC that there was something amiss in the handling of the multimillion ringgit project.
As such, said Mahfuz, the PAC chairman should not wait for official letters from MPs before disclosing PAC’s meeting minutes in public.
“What is important here is that apart from the four committees tasked to monitor the project, one more committee formed by the government is the ‘selection committee’... chaired by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin... it was tasked to select the company to run the NFC.
“This is important. On September 25, 2006, this committee held a meeting to select the company, whereby six firms participated, and the project was awarded to Agroscience Sdn Bhd.
“This was explained during the PAC probe and that is why I am saying that the meeting minutes are important,” Mahfuz said.
Muhyiddin, now the deputy prime minister, was the agriculture and agro-based industries minister when the NFC contract was given out.
The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), tasked with running the national cattle-farming project, is chaired by Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children are directors in the company.
PKR has made several claims of abuse of the federal loan involving over RM62 million in land, property and expenses unrelated to cattle farming.
Shahrizat’s son, Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh, has insisted that the company decided it would make better use of the money by investing in property during a break in business operations due to the government’s decision to suspend construction of an abattoir that would have been rented to NFCorp.
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 Women, Family and Community Development Minister 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.
Muhyiddin 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.
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