PAC to push on with procedural probe on NFCorp

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC) will proceed with its inquiry into the RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) scandal after a three-month delay.

But panel chief Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (picture) told reporters after today’s housekeeping meeting that the probe will be limited to “standard operating procedure” on how the project and funds were handed to the company owned by the family of former minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

“We have decided to call agencies involved including Agriculture and Finance Ministry officials on June 26. But we cannot touch on any court case so how NFCorp disbursed its funds is not our business. Only government procedure,” he said.

The Padang Besar MP also said the panel would ask the Finance Ministry to explain the RM3.5 billion Petrosaudi investment made by its wholly-owned 1 Malaysia Development Bhd on June 27 and move on to two other high-profile government scandals later on.

The cases are Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli’s confidential out-of-court settlement with Danaharta over his RM589 million debt, and the cost of KLIA2 surging by RM2.2 billion to RM3.9 billion.

The Malaysian Insider understands, however, that today’s PAC meeting — the first in three months — saw heated debate over whether the committee should proceed at all with the NFCorp scandal that has seen Shahrizat lose her Cabinet spot and her husband charged in court.

Azmi had last week denied any attempt to cover up high-profile government scandals despite the lack of PAC meetings since March, saying that some members did not show up for the last meeting in mid-April.

“We were all busy and focusing on elections. The last time I called for a meeting we had no quorum,” he told reporters but refused to say which of the 13 members were absent.

The former minister also denied “higher-ups” giving any orders for the panel not to proceed with probing four controversial cases already agreed as part of PAC’s agenda as “they don’t even know (about our work).”

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) members of the PAC had earlier said the committee’s failure to meet for three months suggests a bid to bury financial scandals involving the incumbent federal government.

They told a press conference here that despite the parliamentary committee resolving on March 5, 2012 to prioritise four top issues involving government expenditure worth close to RM9 billion, including the NFCorp scandal, no meetings have been called since the end of March.

The PAC had on March 21 also decided to carry on with the NFC probe despite Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s orders that it cannot touch on criminal charges against Shahrizat’s husband and NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail.

The order came just a day after the Wanita Umno chief’s family, who own NFCorp, refused to face the committee.

Dewan Rakyat had also rejected questions from four DAP lawmakers in March concerning the Tajudin-Danaharta settlement, which politicians from across the divide said was a matter of public interest, saying it could not discuss issues being deliberated in court.

The four MPs had all asked Putrajaya to reveal details of the settlement and how it benefits the public as the former Malaysia Airlines chairman had already been ordered by the High Court to pay the RM589 million he owed Danaharta, which was set up to take over bad debts during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.