Investigate Agriculture Ministry too, says Singapore daily

By Debra Chong

January 16, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Malaysia’s Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry must be investigated for its role in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal, Singapore’sBusiness Times (BT) said today as criticism against Umno-linked politicians continue to sharpen.

In a commentary piece published today, the Singapore daily pointed out that the public’s demand for government accountability has been made clear from the way they voted in Election 2008, which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lose its two-thirds grip on Parliament.

Muhyiddin was the agriculture minister then when the NFC was awarded to Shahrizat’s family. — File pic

It noted too that from the Auditor-General’s 2010 report — when the cattle project came to light and showed the corporation, run by the family of Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, had badly failed to meet production targets — the government had also failed to monitor the costly national project, and questioned if there been a failure of fiduciary duty on the part of government officials as well.

“The role of the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry should also be investigated,” Singapore’s BTsaid.

It pointed out that it was the ministry that had approved the project in the first place and disbursed the RM250 million soft loan.

“And why did the ministry give the money out at what seems to be unseemly haste? All the money was dished out a year after the deal was signed. Shouldn’t the funds have gone out on a schedule that matched the project’s delivery?” it added.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was the minister then when the NFC was awarded to Shahrizat’s family. He is now deputy prime minister and his Agriculture portfolio has since been taken over by Datuk Seri Noh Omar.

“Essentially, what’s needed are clear guidelines that establish the ground rules for the management of state-backed ventures. The days of ‘just winging it’ are over, and Mr Najib had better realise that,” the paper concluded.

The Singapore newspaper’s commentary echoed several opposition lawmakers who have been calling for the government accountability on this particular case.

DAP MP Lim Kit Siang has been pushing the Umno ministers who, he said, owed the public a full account of why they had allowed the NFC scandal to reach such a “disgraceful proportion” under their charge.

Shahrizat applied for three weeks’ leave from her duties last week after new allegations of bribery surfaced recently involving the RM250 million NFC project, which is operated by her husband and two of their children.