Shahrizat has denied any involvement in the NFC.
The Cabinet has not decided whether Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil must leave government due to the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre scandal, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The deputy prime minister shook his head and said, “No, no”, when asked if Cabinet had decided on whether the women, family and community development minister must resign or be sacked.
The Wanita Umno chief has faced growing calls to resign, including from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after repeated allegations including the use of public funds to purchase land and property worth RM27 million unrelated to the national cattle farming project.
NFC chairman and Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail, was forced to deny that a businessman, who was arrested for allegedly offering RM1.7 million in bribes to officers investigating the scandal, was related to him or an NFC employee.
Last Friday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission raided the NFC headquarters in connection with the alleged abuse of federal funds by its management.
PKR first latched onto the issue after the RM250 million federally funded cattle project made it into the pages of the Auditor-General’s report for 2010, which described the NFC as “a mess”.
Since then, the party has made several revelations related to the scandal, including the NFC’s purchase of twin multi-million luxury condominium units in Bangsar, the alleged use of project funds to finance Shahrizat’s as well as her family’s personal expenses and trips abroad.
It also alleged there was a transfer of resources to unrelated companies in Singapore, as well as the purchase a Mercedes-Benz CLS350 for RM534,622 and two plots of land in Putrajaya’s Precinct 10 for RM3,363,507.
The latest disclosure by PKR, made last Tuesday, alleged that some RM10 million was diverted towards the purchase of luxury condominium unit in Singapore for Shahrizat’s family.
Shahrizat has sought to deflect attention by stating she was “only the wife” of the national cattle farming project’s chairman and had nothing to do with the NFC.
