RM600k credit card charges to NFC and Najib is still playing internal Umno politics

Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be savoring the breathing space he won for himself after a complex move by his supporters to oust Women's Minister Shahrizat Jalil. The move allegedly masterminded by Lembah Pantai Umno chief Raja Nong Chik had created a ripple effect, piling pressure on Najib's foes in their Umno party which includes deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin as well as former premier Mahathir Mohamd.

The RM250 million National Feedlot Corp debacle, in which Shahrizat's family was accused of misappropriating public money, was approved by Muhyiddin in 2006 when he was the Agriculture Minister. The project to raise local beef supply was granted to Shahrizat's husband and children to manage and oversee. Financed by a government soft loan, the opposition PKR party has alleged that some RM188 million was inappropriately used and needs to be audited with a fine toothcomb.

Given such a 'hot potato', Najib lost no opportunity turning the political knife on Muhyiddin. Over the weekend, the PM announced that NFC assets would be frozen, and Muhyiddin and Non Omar - the current Agriculture minister - would decide on the best course of action.

However, while the plodding Muhyiddin has been quick to come to the net with a volley of his own, there is little doubt that the fiasco has burnt a large hole in his campaign to challenge Najib for the Umno presidency and premiership of the country.

"I have discussed it with the PM that the issue has been manipulated by the opposition and it has reached a stage where the government will take action and announce the same in the near future," responded Muhyiddin.

Warlords made to choose sides

As for Noh Omar, who is also the Selangor Umno deputy chief and regarded as one of its biggest 'warlord', he was quick to take the cue from Najib. Noh knows he is not on Najib's favoured list to become Selangor chief minister if Umno manages to wrest the state government from the Pakatan Rakyat in the coming election.

"This one, you ask DPM,” Malaysian Insider reported Noh as saying twice during a press conference on Monday.

As for Shahrizat Jalil, who is known to be aligned to the Umno faction led by former premier Abdullah Badawi and Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, it is clear her political career has all but finished.

So far, she has taken 3 weeks' leave to allow investigations to proceed and while Najib assured that NFC assets have been frozen, the NFC board consisting of Shahrizat's children have issued a press statement that it is "business as usual" at the company.

RM593,500 in just credit card charges alone

Pakatan Rakyat leaders including PKR's Rafizi Ramli and DAP's Lim Kit Siang have slammed the asset freeze as inadequate. They want the Shahrizat family to suspended from the NFC board so that they cannot 'perpetrate' any further cover-ups.

In the latest PKR expose, Rafizi also revealed the shockingly high credit card charges incurred by the Shahrizat family and charged to the NFC - amounting to RM593,500 during the year 2009. These sums are additional to the fat paychecks that the family already draws.

The breakdown provided by Rafizi in a statement on Monday showed that Shahrizat's husband Salleh Ismail charged RM182,525, children Wan Shahinur Izan RM160,573, Wan Izzana Fatimah RM127,900 and Wan Shahinur Izmir RM122,402.

"We need to highlight to the public this was the amount they charged to their credit cards which was paid by the people of Malaysia through the NFC," Rafizi told Malaysia Chronicle.

"As such, I view with great seriousness, the defiance showed by Izmir Salleh that it is business as usual in NFC. Are Shahrizat's family trying to show they will not be bound by the government's order, or is Najib - as usual - giving hollow and empty instructions that are merely for show. We hope that he is not too busy playing internal Umno politics that he cannot be bothered to stop such pilferage of national funds."

PKR supreme council member Fariz Musa will lead a team to lodge a report at the Dang Wangi police station at 2 pm on Tuesday, January 16, 2012.

Firing from all fronts, but it is Malaysia that gets hurt

Indeed, Najib's mind seems to be on everything except the national agenda and the economy, which is fast sinking. Last week, he shocked the nation by allowing the courts to acquit arch enemy Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim from sodomy charges.

While the politically clumsy Najib tried to give the impression that the ruling showed the Malaysian judiciary was independent and not as notorious as it had been accused of being a stooge of the Umno elite, seasoned pundits said the move was actually aimed to crimp and discomfort another huge Najib obstacle - former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

"Yes, Najib is firing from all fronts of late. But we are concerned that in the process of the Umno infighting, it is Malaysia which gets neglected and badly hurt," said Rafizi.

Lack of remorse

DAP's Kit Siang also lamented the total absence of remorse by the NFC culprits. Critics have been especially harsh as Shahrizat had refused to accept blame or apologize for her family, insisting that what they did was none of her business.

"It raises the critical thinking Malaysians whether the ‘temporary freeze’ of NFC assets was nothing but a charade to appease an increasingly outraged Malaysian population. Can Najib specifically answer the many questions about the “temporary freeze” of NFC assets — the who, when, where, how and what assets have been frozen and what value?” asked Kit Siang.

"Ordinary Malaysians are outraged that after more than six months after the revelations Auditor-General about the NFC ‘mess’, nothing has been done whether by the Cabinet or NFC to put things right. What is worse, there is a complete absence of remorse or admission of grave wrong and injustices in the gross misuse of NFC funds."

Shahrizat's family was accused of using NFC funds to buy luxury condos in Bangsar and Singapore, up-market residential land Putrajaya, a super-class Mercedes Benz plus family holidays and million-ringgit cash transfers and discounts to family-controlled firms.

Malaysia Chronicle