The email that blew the whistle on NFC

PKR reveals the “source document” that gives details of the corporation’s transactions.

PETALING JAYA: PKR revealed today what it says is the “source document” that put it on the trail of questionable transactions by the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC).

The party’s strategic director, Rafizi Ramli, from whom Federal Commercial Crime Police will record a statement this afternoon, said he would surrender the document and all other evidence to the investigators.

“Since the NFC scandal broke out, the focus of investigations has been to verify the authenticity of the documents that PKR used in exposing misappropriation of funds,” he said. “Many have made the accusation that these documents are false. It was as if the investigations would turn against those feeding us the information.”

The document, which Rafizi showed to reporters, appears to be a printout from an internal accounting system. It gives the NFC’s 2009 expenditures in detail.

Rafizi said an anonymous whistleblower sent the document to him by e-mail and had made no further communication with him. “I don’t think we’ll ever find out who this person is, but I think he is the Malaysian of the year,” he said.

“I believe the public will no longer doubt the authenticity of our information because these are detailed transaction information downloaded from the NFC’s own accounting system.”

Rafizi once worked as an accountant and auditor.

He said PKR’s exposes were based mostly on the document, with additional information gathered through its own investigations.

“I spent nights going through the document line by line. It is all here—the condominiums and all. So if PKR can come up with so much with just this single document, I’m sure the police and MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) would not have any problems finding proof to quickly charge those involved.

“We followed the cash trial. We dug deeper and deeper. Now we have decided to open it for all. Everyone out there can go and dig for more. I am already very tired.”

Flawed business model

He urged the authorities to speed up their investigations into the highest reaches of government.

“It is obvious that there is an element of omission and negligence at the highest level,” he said. “Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was then the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, approved the feedlot project without taking into account factors that have led to its failure.

“Muhyiddin approved this without thinking. The business model itself is flawed. You import cattle from Australia although you have a vibrant and successful one in Thailand. The onus and responsibility was on Muhyiddin to make sure that it was a good business model. If he had done so, we would not have such jokes such as cows dying in ships and from eating the wrong grass.”

Rafizi said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was also responsible in valuing the bids from various companies and awarding the tender for the project. “Of all the companies, they chose to award this to the family of a minister, a family with no experience. This can’t be right.”

PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said her group made 13 police reports on Nov 3 and was “more than ready” to provide statements to investigators.

“We have done our work, revealed the tip of an iceberg,” she said. “Now we must leave it to others to follow up.”

NFC is run by Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, the husband of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. It came under attack from the opposition parties , particularly PKR, after the release of the Auditor-General’s 2010 report, which said the corporation was “in a mess”.

PKR accuses Shahrizat’s family of misappropriating the RM250 million of public funds meant for NFC in the purchase of a luxury car and luxury condominiums in Bangsar and Singapore. It also claims that the beef produced by NFC was channelled to luxury restaurants owned by Shahrizat’s family.

Shahrizat, who heads Wanita Umno, has denied that she was involved in any wrongdoing. However, she faces growing calls to quit as minister, not only from the opposition parties, but from within Barisan Nasional and Umno as well.

Two weeks ago, MACC officers went to the NFC office in Mont Kiara and seized documents and a CPU.

A day before that, police arrested a 45-year-old businessman for allegedly attempting to bribe senior officers who were investigating the NFC scandal.

Last week, Shamsubahrin Ismail, a 45-year-old businessman, claimed trial to the charge of cheating Mohamad Salleh of more than RM1.7 million after promising to provide the NFC chairman with “negotiation and consultation services”.