R. Nadeswaran
[email protected]
23 February 2012

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23, 2012): The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) bought luxury condominiums without the approval of the board of directors. Three government representatives who sit on the board were not consulted or told about the purchase.

Alias Mohd Yassin and Manaf Hussein represented the Agriculture and Finance Ministries respectively while Datuk Mat Ali Hassan was appointed by virtue of him being the Negri Sembilan state secretary.

These appointments were made to “safeguard the interests of the federal government and stakeholders and the state government as it provided the land.”

“At no time were these directors told of the purchase of the condominiums and other so-called investments and neither were they aware of it until the matter was reported in the media,” a source close to the investigations said.

It is a statutory requirement that the board approve any “investment” through a resolution.

The government representatives, the source said, were kept totally in the dark although they attended the board meetings regularly. They were not updated on the drawdown of funds from the RM250 million soft loan provided by the government.

The investigations also revealed that each of the government representatives were paid directors’ and meeting allowances of RM700 each month.

As for the massive sums allegedly paid as salaries and perks to other directors, investigations showed that such emoluments and day-to-day affairs and management were left in the hands of the CEO Wan Shahinur Izmir Mohamed Salleh, who is the son of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

The government-appointed directors had no say on such matters.

Two weeks ago, Wan Shahinur Izmir claimed the loan agreement did not stipulate any express prohibitions on investments and insinuated that the company could do what it deemed fit with the loan. However, this may not be correct in its entirety as any movement of money or major decisions had to be approved by the board of directors.

According to the investigators, documents that were seized from the company showed that no such resolution was proposed or passed during board meetings. Investigations are expected to be wrapped up in the next few days.

In December 2007, the government had approved a RM250 million soft loan to enable the NFCorp to start a feedlot centre in Gemas, Negri Sembilan. The corporation’s executive chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail is Shahrizat’s husband, and their children are on the board of directors.

The NFCorp controversy unfolded after the 2010 Auditor-General’s Report said the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre cattle breeding project which it runs had not met the targets set by the government.

Following this, allegations that the company had misused some of the money from the loan to purchase condominiums in Bangsar and property in Putrajaya surfaced, and reports were lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police.

Shahrizat, who has come under pressure to resign over the case, applied for three weeks’ leave from her ministerial duties last month to “allow investigations into the NFCorp to be completed”. She has since resumed her duties.

On Feb 8, she was summoned by MACC to give her statement.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced last month that it would appoint an auditor to scrutinise NFCorp’s books in light of accusations made against the company, but dismissed calls for a royal commission of inquiry into the NFC.