Shahrizat applies for leave pending NFC probe

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said today she has applied for three weeks' leave from tomorrow from her duties as women, family and community development minister.

She said in a statement that she had put in the leave application to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"I hope the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will be able to undertake the investigation to determine whether I was associated with or not in any of the decisions made by the government on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), in which my husband Mohammad Salleh Ismail is the executive chairman," she said.

The NFC issue cropped up after the 2010 Auditor-General's Report issued last October said the corporation's cattle-breeding project in Gemas, Negeri Sembilan, to boost local beef production and reduce its import had failed to meet the target.

The issue heated up following allegations by opposition political parties about irregularities in the use of the government allocation of RM250 million to NFC for the project.