NFC denies paying fat paycheques

NFC says the authorities have been given precise information on the payroll of the directors.

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) today rubbished allegations that directors of the company have been receiving huge unjustifiable salaries.

In a statement today, NFC executive director Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh clarified that the directors were earning nowhere near the overstated figures.

He said the relevant authorities have been given the information on their payroll and the bank statements to match.

“The highly exaggerated figures first emerged from a mysterious prank blogger who had drawn the media’s attention to it. Since then, the blogger has disappeared and his erroneous post continues to be picked up by the public,” Wan Shahinur said.

Today, DAP’s Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang repeated the claim that the salaries of NFC directors collectively amounted to RM215,000 per month.

Lim alleged that Mohamad Salleh Ismail – the husband of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – draws RM100,000 salary monthly as NFC chairman.

He said their son Wan Shahinur Izmir, 31, is paid RM45,000 as executive director, while another son Wan Shahinur Izran, 27, earns RM35,000 as chief executive officer.

He said their daughter Wan Izzanah Fatimah, 25, allegedly draws RM35,000 a month as the other director.

PKR has distanced itself from that claim.

Police clearance

Wan Shahinur also said the public should not be unduly alarmed by such postings on the Internet that gave distorted and incorrect information.

“The facts are with the relevant authorities,” he said.

He also reiterated that despite the assets of the company being frozen by the authorities, operations at NFC are continuing as normal so that nationwide beef supplies are not disrupted.

“The 4,500 head of cattle are not abandoned and 100 employees are not left jobless. As for operational expenses, the company has now to apply to the police for clearance before disbursements can be made,” he added.

On the allegation by PKR today that he and his family had spent almost RM600,000 of NFC’s money in credit card expenses for personal use, Wan Shahinur clarified that these are corporate cards and for business development expenses.

“There are no personal expenses as alleged. The business development expenses by the four directors reflect the magnitude of its (NFC’s) multi-million ringgit sales,” he said.

He also said that NFC would clarify other distortions that have affected public perception of the company.

Wan Shahinur said that the Auditor-General has at no time described in his 2010 report that the NFC was in a “mess”.

“The word ‘mess’ has never been used in the report, and the public can download a copy of the audit report from the Jabatan Audit Negara (National Audit Department) website http://www.audit.gov.my/ to confirm it.”

“Clearly this is another kind of false and mischievous allegation.”