A single, special unit for NFCorp probe

The police, A-G's Chambers and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission should join forces in investigating NFCorp.

PETALING JAYA: All law-enforcing agencies should act as one when it comes to investigating National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).

Transparency International Malaysia president Paul Low said the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police should establish a special unit to investigate the NFCorp.

“Instead of investigating the matter separately, they should work on it together.

“Rather than two or three departments from separate agencies sending files back and forth, they should go down to the ground together as a team, as a cohesive unit,” he told FMT.

He added that the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) had attracted much public attention and has become a matter of great public concern. Hence there needs to be a sense of urgency in tackling the investigation.

His comments comes just as the A-G’s Chambers has returned investigation papers (IP) on NFCorp back to the police for the second time this morning.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said that the A-G’s Chambers ordered more investigations to be conducted on the case.

The first police probe was submitted on Jan 17 after recording 54 statements, including NFCorp’s staff. The police started the probe on NFCorp on Nov 18.

MACC, which began a separate probe on NFCorp on Dec 23, has also had its IP returned by the A-G, who sought further evidence.

Asked if the authorities should keep the public abreast of the investigation, Low said that it would be unfair on the parties who are probed as investigations was still ongoing.

Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Sha’ani B Abdullah shared Low’s sentiments, but added that the public should be informed over some details of the on-going investigations.

“You don’t have to reveal your findings, but just inform us what exactly are you looking into.

“Some sharing of information is needed. Otherwise, the public will lose confidence in these institutions and they will ask if these authorities are indeed carrying out their duty,” he said.

Thorough investigations

Muhammad Sha’ani said this was no time for the three agencies to adopt a “bureaucratic approach” in investigations of a high-profile case and agreed that a special unit comprising authorities of all three agencies should be established for the NFC issue.

Former MACC Corruption Prevention Panel chairman Ramon Navaratnam said that the public needed to be fair to the authorities as this was a case which needed them to be thorough hence taking some time to complete.

“Such big issues cannot be solved in about three months; the authorities need to be thorough,” he said.

However, he added that such cases was also a test to the authorities concerned of the quality of their services.

“If these institutions can’t provide quality evidence, they should at least provide a large quantity of evidence to satisfy the A-G’s Chamber. The latter may be returning the files due to a lack of standard in the evidence,” he said.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) is investigating the NFC case under Sections 420 and 409 of the Penal Code for cheating and criminal breach of trust respectively as well as several sections under the Companies Act.

MACC has classified the case under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009, for abuse of power.