NFC whistleblower stole RM2.7m, claims Ibrahim Ali

UPDATED @ 03:06:48 PM 22-01-2012

By Yow Hong Chieh

January 22, 2012

The Perkasa chief today described the ex-employee as a “non-Malay” marketing executive. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — A former National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) employee, who is alleged to have leaked the company’s financial records, was fired for stealing RM2.7 million in cash and will soon face criminal charges, Datuk Ibrahim Ali said today.

The Perkasa chief said the “non-Malay” marketing executive, who was in charge of collecting cash payments from the NFCorp’s clients, had squirreled away RM10,000 to RM20,000 daily before he was caught by company accountants.

NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail subsequently lodged a police report and sacked the employee in question.

“It turns out before this Datuk Salleh had two non-Malay employees. They handled RM150,000 in cash every day. One of these employees siphoned off the money,” Ibrahim told reporters at Hotel Putra here.

He further alleged that the employee then stole the company’s cashbook as revenge for the dismissal and may have sold it to PKR, which led to the charge against the scandal-tainted NFCorp.

The marketing executive will be charged in court soon for embezzling company funds, Ibrahim added.

The Malay rights leader said this after a meeting called by Salleh to brief Perkasa and 11 other NGOs on the allegations involving NFCorp.

Ibrahim also said the cashbook given to PKR by the whistleblower was only “half the story” as it did not state the reasons for each expenditure by the company.

He stressed, however, that he was not taking anyone’s side and that he would leave it to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police to carry out a proper investigation into NFCorp’s finances.

The publicly funded NFCorp hit national headlines following last year’s Auditor-General’s Report, and has continued to hog the limelight after it was linked to federal minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s family.

Salleh, who heads NFCorp, is Shahrizat’s husband. Their three children also hold directorships in the company.

PKR has since made several revelations relating to the scandal, including NFC’s purchase of two luxury condominium units in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, and the alleged use of project funds to pay for Shahrizat’s and her family’s personal expenses.

The opposition party has also alleged that Shahrizat’s family used nearly RM600,000 of the NFC project funds to settle their credit card bills in 2009.

But NFC’s management has maintained that the credit card expenses were solely for business purposes.

It has also denied allegations that funds from the RM250-million government loan were channelled into its accounts before the loan agreement was signed.

Shahrizat applied for three weeks’ leave from her duties two weeks ago after new allegations of bribery surfaced in the NFC project.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced last week that the government would appoint an auditor to scrutinise NFC’s books in light of PKR’s accusations.