Kit Siang wants PAC chief to quit over NFC delay
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang wants the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Azmi Khalid to quit his post for delaying a "full-scale investigation" into the alleged mismanagement of the National Feedlot Centre project.
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang wants the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Azmi Khalid to quit his post for delaying a "full-scale investigation" into the alleged mismanagement of the National Feedlot Centre project.
The Ipoh Barat MP urged Azmi (
left
) to "not be an obstacle" to PAC's immediate investigation into the allegations so that the committee could table its findings in Parliament when it reconvenes in March.
He added that "it will be a gross remiss of its responsibility" if PAC fails to do so.
Lim's demands come as Azmi, the Padang Besar MP, halted PAC's investigation into the management of the cattle rearing project until the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have completed their probe.
"The decision for the PAC to refrain or suspend its investigation into the auditor-general's exposes of the scandal is only the personal inclination of Azmi and cannot be the collective decision of the PAC, as the PAC has not met after the start of the police and MACC investigations into the NFC," lambasted Lim.
"Azmi should not impose his personal preference on the PAC when national interests demand that the PAC perform its duty to conduct an urgent and immediate investigation into the scandal."
'Sabotaged by former staff members'
Lim added his reservation of having Azmi probe the problems highlighted in the project as the latter is a former cabinet minister.
PKR had raised a number of issues on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), which has been entrusted to manage the nation's cattle project, including the use of public funds to purchase a luxury condominium and to pay for an overseas trip for family members of the project operators.
The NFC has refuted the allegations, saying it had met production targets, and the condominium units were an investment to hedge unutilised funds.
Its chief executive Mohamed Salleh Ismail, who is also husband of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, said the NFC had been sabotaged by two former staff members who leaked its financial information.
PAC began an initial probe into the cattle project, which was handed to Shahrizat's family with a RM250 million government soft loan, in November last year.
Azmi had complained that the loan was given to the company even before the agreement was signed.
"The last thing Azmi should do is to be responsible for the PAC playing truant from performing its parliamentary and national duty to conduct an immediate and urgent probe into the NFC scandal, and to submit its report to Parliament when it reconvenes," advised Lim.
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