PKR's Rafizi, Zuraida to expose new NFC scandals this morning

PKR will hold a press conference this morning to expose new scandals it has uncovered in the ongoing RM250mil NFC debacle, a classic showcase of patronage and corruption in Malaysia's political system.

According to PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli, the press conference will be held at 11.30am at his party headquarters in Merchant Square, Petaling Jaya. Also attending the presser will be PKR Women's chief Zuraida Kamaruddin and the party's Felda bureau.

"I can't give any hints but these are new revelations and quite shocking," Rafizi told Malaysia Chronicle, refusing to provide further details.

Protection from someone "high up"?

The National Feedlot Center is a cattle breeding project awarded to the family of Umno Women's chief and federal minister Shahrizat Jalil in 2006. A RM250 mil government soft loan was also granted to finance the project, but not only has the NFC been mismanaged with the Auditor General pointing out "weaknesses", PKR leaders have exposed abuse of power and alleged criminal breach of trust.

Till now, the Shahrizats have not been able to convincingly counter the allegations that a huge chunk of the loan was spent on personal items including luxury condominiums, a Mercedes Benz, overseas holidays, credit card charges, and multimillion ringgit discounts to family-controlled firms.

Just a day ago, the police admitted they had proposed charging Salleh Ismail, the NFC chairman and Shahrizat's husband, for CBT and it was now up to the Attorney General.

In a quick response, the family denounced the police, questioning its motive.“NFCorp therefore wishes to enquire the police if, in their investigations, they had paid enough consideration to the fact that there is total lacking of the elements of dishonesty in this case, which is a primary ingredient of CBT and cheating?” NFC had said in the statement.

The Shahrizats' boldness at this late stage of the case, where too many irregularities have already been flushed out, prompted speculation that they were drawing courage from someone "high up".

Speculation in the Umno circles is that this person is none other than Prime Minister Najib Razak himself, who stands to benefit from the prolonged politicking in the case which also embarrasses his Umno rivals such as Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former premier Abdullah Badawi.

Indeed, Najib has sounded warning that despite the police recommendation, it was not incumbent on the Attorney General to prosecute or to arrest Salleh.

“I am saying this on the principle that assumptions cannot be made on what is going to happen (next) because it is up to the A-G ... and only he has the right to make the decision in this matter. We cannot make the assumption that all investigations end with prosecution,” Najib told reporters on Sunday.

Malaysia Chronicle