Putrajaya initiates audit of NFCorp’s books

UPDATED @ 05:02:35 PM 18-01-2012

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

January 18, 2012

The audit of the NFC project operator is expected to take a month to complete, said Muhyiddin. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — The government said today it will appoint an accounting firm to audit the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFCorp)’s finances, following allegations of financial abuse involving the federally-funded project.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the accounting firm will carry out “due diligence” checks and inspect all financial aspects of the project.

“To protect the government’s interests, the government plans to appoint an accounting audit firm tasked in conducting due diligence and audit the project in terms of loan use, management and financial aspects of the project,” he said in a statement to Bernama.

Muhyiddin said the auditing process will likely take a month to be finalised.

The Umno deputy president has come under pressure from opposition lawmakers who have demanded he be investigated over the matter as well, as he was agriculture and agro-based minister whose ministry was in charge of awarding the project to NFCorp back in 2007.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confirmed that NFCorp’s assets have been frozen pending the outcome of the probe.

According to the New Straits Times on Monday, the police have concluded investigations into the RM250 million federally-funded project and have submitted their findings to the deputy public prosecutor for further action.

The publicly-funded cattle farming project hit national headlines following the Auditor-General’s 2010 report last year and continued to hog the limelight after it was linked to minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family.

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 from the NFC project funds to settle their credit card bills in 2009.

PKR strategic director, Rafizi Ramli, claimed that the Wanita Umno chief’s husband and three children, all of whom sit on the NFC board, used funds from the RM250 million cattle farming project to pay credit card bills averaging over RM10,000 per month each across the year.

But NFCorp’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 last week after new allegations of bribery surfaced in the NFC project.