Buck stops with Putrajaya if no NFCorp loan guarantee, says PKR

By Shannon Teoh

January 30, 2012

Zuraida said the two ministries would be responsible if NFCorp fails to service the loan. — File pic

PETALING JAYA, Jan 30 — PKR said today the finance and agricultural ministries must answer for any losses to the taxpayer after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) directors gave no personal guarantee for a RM250 million government loan.

PAC members told The Malaysian Insider there was no personal indemnity involved in the loan to kick-start the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project, giving rise to the question of who will be held accountable should NFCorp default on the loan.

“The ministries of finance and agriculture must now be responsible to make sure the funds are rightly used,” Wanita PKR chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said when asked about the lack of a personal guarantee from NFCorp, which is owned by the family of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

The Ampang MP, who has led calls for her Umno counterpart to resign over the scandal-ridden national cattle farming project, said the lack of a guarantee raised further questions as to how the loan agreement could be signed in 2007, three years before terms of the project were inked in an implementation agreement.

“If the ministries involved still fail to act (against NFCorp), it will prove that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is allied to those abusing and robbing the public,” she added.

NFCorp executive director Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh had said on Friday that “stories saying we are getting free money are unreasonable.”

“RM250 million is a big amount. If we play around without direction, my children’s future will be destroyed. For centuries, we will be saddled with debt.

“The loan agreement has been signed. If we don’t pay back, we will be declared bankrupt or locked up in jail. We will pay every sen plus interest. The question of misappropriation does not arise,” said Wan Shahinur Izmir, who is Shahrizat’s son.

But several PAC members said they were told there was no personal guarantee by NFCorp over the loan after the matter was brought to the committee.

Shahrizat has sued both Zuraida and PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli over claims the women, family and community development minister and her family misused at least RM27 million in public funds to pay for land, property and expenses unrelated to cattle farming.

But PKR political bureau member R. Sivarasa added today that with “millions used for other purposes,” NFCorp’s intentions when applying for the loan had to be question.

“Was there a genuine intention to implement the project or was it all a sham?” the Subang MP asked.