June 2o, 2012
PAC Chairman: PAC will question Government Officials on “Procedural Matters” in connection with NFC Loan
by S Pathmawathy@http://www.malaysiakini.com
1:38PM Jun 20, 2012
The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will haul up representatives of government agencies next week for an explanation of how RM250 million was given as a soft loan to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC).
PAC chairperson Dato Seri Azmi Khalid (right in photo) said the probe will be confined to examining the standard operating procedures (SOP).
“It will not touch on matters that are in court. We will have nothing to do with how the company spent the loan,” Azmi told reporters after chairing a committee meeting today.
“We have decided to call agencies involved including officials from the Agriculture and Finance Ministries on June 26. But we cannot touch on any court case, so how NFC disbursed its funds is not our business. Only government procedure,” he said.
Azmi said that investigating into the way the company had disbursed the funds will go against Parliament speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s earlier ruling that matters before the court should not be discussed elsewhere.
“Parliament has decided that it is sub-judice and it is not fair (to the company),” said the Padang Besar BN MP.
The company, which is managed by Shahrizat’s husband Mohamad Salleh Ismail and which has her children as directors, was accused of misusing a RM250 million government soft loan for expenses unrelated to the core business.
After months of continuous pressure, Mohamad Salleh has been charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust and another two counts of violating the Companies Act 1965. He has claimed trial.
Azmi also stated that the committee will request representatives from the Finance Ministry to explain alleged discrepancies in government-linked 1Malaysia Development’s RM3.5 billion investment in Petrosaudi International Ltd, on June 27.
The committee will then move on investigate other high-profile cases starting with former Malaysia Airlines chief Tajuddin Ramli’s confidential out-of-court settlement with Pengurusan Danaharta Bhd.
The committee, has however, decided to halt investigations into the RM3.9 billion construction costs of the new permanent low-cost carrier terminal in Sepang (KLIA2), which was initially targeted at RM2.2 billion.
A source in the committee had revealed that the much-awaited meeting called after more than three months had resolved this shortly after it started following a “heated debate”, as several members of the Opposition were chided for having gone to the media with their complaints.
Last week, Pakatan Rakyat MPs on the panel had hit out at the PAC chief for not calling for meetings to continue its probe into the four scandals that involve about RM9 billion in federal funds.
However, Azmi denied any interference and reasoned that the meetings were not held previously as there had been no quorum when a meeting was called in April.
Hey, Azmi, hang mahu temberang siapa? Kamu bukan ada kuasa untuk mengambil tindakan. Waste of time if you deal only with procedural matters. Better resign and enjoy your parliamentary pension.Orang Malaya, Azmi ialah orang UMNO dari Perlis.
What if procedures were not followed, what action can PAC take to change things? Can the action arising from the non comformity or procedures result in a reversal of decisions made by the government agencies? or will it be just another slap on the wrist? Jamgam Gertak sahaja, leave that to Gertak Singh and Co.
Best these PAC go and play Pacman or Super Mario games. Ini orang Perlis should keep himself busy trying to ward off all those suitors for the “most beautiful Malay woman”.
Sorry lah guys, this has been going on for years. If PAC is feared we need not have this discussion and the economy of Malaysia will surpasses many in Asean. Cows would not live the condos and birds in concrete building for harvesting of bird nest.
The only solution is kick them out. Maybe than, the is light in the horizon for Malaysia. Now, we are going down big time. Should the world financial institutions sneezed Malaysia will be hospitalized and hopefully not comatose.