Shahrizat's husband corruptly obtained loans to buy 8 shoplot units at KL Eco City - PKR

NFC chief Salleh Ismail leveraged off NFC funds to purchase 8 shop-lot units at the KL Eco City in Bangsar, which have a collateral value amounting to RM9.69 million, PKR leaders said on Friday.

According PKR strategy chief Rafizi Ramli, the loans were taken under the name of Salleh and several other individuals. The 8 units, Rafizi added, have a current estimated market value of RM12 million.

"Collateral values are lower than market value, which is RM1,000 to RM1,100 per square feet. Based on this we estimate the market value of the properties to be up to RM12 million,” he told a joint press conference with Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah and PKR Women's chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Not the first time

Together, they unveiled bank documents that allegedly show how Salleh and his children - who are all directors of NFC -  had obtained personal loans to buy the shoplots, using as a lever the funds granted by the government to NFC to develop the cattle breeding project.

According to Rafizi, the family had parked portions of NFC’s millions in two banks as fixed deposits. The FDs were then used to help them obtain “credit facilities” from the said banks in order to purchase a series of high-end properties.

Apart from the shop-lots, Rafizi confirmed that purchases made include the RM10 million condominium unit at the swanky Orchard Scotts Residence in Singapore.

Rafizi also alleged that this was not the first time that Salleh had used this method to obtain loans. Prior to 2009, the Shahrizats had made similar purchases for personal reasons by directly tapping into NFC funds.

“They had some consultants come in and were advised to use the money market to make these purchases,” he said.

How much has been siphoned off by now?

The National Feedlot Centre is a project aimed to raise beef supply in the country so that Malaysia could supply at least 40% of its own needs. However, the 2010 Auditor-General's report has pointed out fundamental "weaknesses" in the way the project was being managed.

PKR leaders too have unveiled a slew of revelations showing that the Shahrizats had spent a chunk of the money meant for the project on luxury condos both in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, expensive overseas holidays, up-market restaurants and a supermarket in Singapore.

Last Friday, Tony had revealed that NFC, as at 2009, had siphoned RM81.4 million from its company account to several private companies owned by the Shahrizats. He also accused the NFC of using the government loan for this purpose, and estimated the total amount ‘siphoned’ out would definitely have exceeded RM100 million by now.