NFC chairman playing the victim, ex-consultant alleges

Shamsubahrin Ismail says he and Opposition MP Rafizi Ramli are being portrayed as villains who victimised Mohamad Salleh Ismail instead.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shamsubahrin Ismail, the former consultant of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) today said that he was a victim of a conspiracy by the government to save NFC’s chairman, Mohamad Salleh Ismail and his family from charges of corruption.

He said orders from the Ministry of Finance that parties who wished to takeover NFC meet with Salleh, was a clear indication the government was trying to cover up the case.

“The move by the Finance Ministry is seen as an attempt to save NFC’s board of directors from all accusations including two accusations of breach of trust worth RM49.7 million towards the chairman of NFC, Mohamad Salleh Ismail,” he said today in a press statement.

Shamsubahrin claimed that once the millions in liabilities were paid to the government, the case could be settled outside of court.

“Liabilities of RM250 million will have to be paid to the government in order to close the case.

“That’s why parties showing an interest in NFC are being told to meet Salleh personally so that the RM250 million when paid directly to him can then be returned to the government in order for him to wash his hands clean,” he alleged today at a press conference.

“This is a conspiracy to cover up for Salleh’s family,” he claimed.

He added that the government’s media ban on coverage of Salleh’s ongoing court case was a ploy to smother public interest in NFC in the hopes that the people would soon forget about the scandal.

Shamsubahrin further alleged that this was part of Salleh’s ploy to portray himself as a victim in the NFC controversy.

“Salleh wants to show the court that he was victimised by us, but the actual fact is that we (himself and Rafizi Ramli) are the true victims,” he said.

He claimed that Salleh had in fact scouted for potential foreign investors to takeover NFC but had met with failure every time when the figures in the corporation’s accounts books did not add up time and again.

“Salleh spoke to investors from Australia and Japan but his endeavours all failed as the account books showed many discrepancies,” he said.