Noh admits holding stake in prawn farm

Agriculture Minister Noh Omar has admitted having a stake in a  Tanjong Karang prawn farming business, insisting that there was nothing wrong in doing so.

According to a Sin Chew Daily report today, he had claimed that when the 30-acre land in Bagan Tengkorak was his, he had yet to be appointed agriculture minister.

"Furthermore, the land didn't belong to me personally. Yes, I'm doing prawn farm business together with other businessmen, this also cannot?" he retorted when asked by journalists after launching an Agriculture Bank programme yesterday.

"I must emphasise, this business is shared with others. It was something I did before becoming minister. I landed the business not because of the Agriculture Ministry, so what's wrong with that?"

Noh Omar (left) also laughed off Sekinchan state assemblyperson Ng Swee Lim's concern that should he become Selangor MB, more land would be siphoned off by BN politicians.

"I haven't become MB, yet he is already worried. In any case, I am not interested in becoming MB."

On whether the prawn farm business would raise a conflict of interest issue given the nature of his portfolio, Noh Omar rebutted: "So a housing minister cannot buy house. Is that also conflict of interest?"

His reason for taking to the prawn farm business was the desire to experience a farmer's life and he was personally interested in farming.

Joint venture claim denied

Meanwhile, Pristine Agrofood Sdn Bhd director Chu Bak Teck denied claims that it had teamed up with Noh in the joint-venture prawn farming project.

Contradicting Noh, Chu had earlier told Malaysiakini that the minister was merely the owner of a portion of the 100-acre prawn farm in Tanjung Karang, of which his company is the tenant.

The farm had claimed that it has no links with the federal government, but conceded that the company did secure a loan from the Agro Bank under the Fund for Food (3F) scheme.

Agro Bank is run by the Agriculture and Agro-based IndustryMinistry, headed by Noh.

On Wednesday, Ng told the Selangor legislative assembly that Noh had been engaged in a joint-venture with Pristine Agrofood since last year, which he charged was in conflict with his ministerial position.

Documents supplied by Ng showed that Noh had acquired the land in 1995, the year he became MP for the Tanjung Karang parliamentary seat. He was appointed agriculture minister in 2009.