YOURSAY ‘We can be sure there must be some secret sweetheart deals between the government and the acquiring company to compensate for the losses.'

Ministry: New operator pledges to pay off NFC debt

Ferdtan: How will Kirmitonas Agro Sdn Bhd, by taking over the meat producing project (National Feedlot Corporation), gain when the original project had failed miserably?

It was a non-starter when former women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's family was awarded the project by the government.

We doubt there was any proper feasibility study on the viability of the business of cattle-farming - they were only obviously eyeing the soft loan of RM250 million granted and guaranteed by the government.

From the way Shahrizat's family used the fund which came from the public - buying condos and in one year alone (2009) the credit card spending of her husband and her children of RM600,000 - the cattle-farming business was far from their mind.

On top of that, it was said by Finance Minister II Husni Hanadzlah that the new company, Kirmitonas Agro, has pledged to pay off all of NFC's outstanding debts to the government.

Is this for real? What type of businessmen are willing to do that? If NFC is a long-established company with at least some track record then it would be worth paying more for the goodwill.

There is something the minister is not saying. It looks like it is a bailout - to put closure to the NFC scandal.

We can be sure there must be some secret sweetheart deals between the government and the acquiring company to compensate the for the losses.

We don't expect Kirmitonas Agro to be so charitably as to perform national service, especially with no gain.

FellowMalaysian: Please tell me, who in his right mind would buy a debt of RM250 million by paying RM250 million? Only one category of people would - BN cronies.

"If the negotiations are successful, they have given their commitment to pay off all the debts," said Husni.

Sounds reasonable enough, but there are two major implications:

1. The pledges are conditional on successful negotiations but so far nothing remotely near has been achieved.

2. Juicy government contracts will inexorably be included in the deals - for example, direct-negotiated contracts costing the government RM1 billion where a fool is able to do the same work for RM100 million.

What else is Husni not telling us?

Unspin: MOF (Ministry of Finance), please cut the ‘white knight' nonsense because you are not going to fool anybody. Let NFC die a natural death instead of pouring more taxpayers' money down the drain.

Recover as much as you can through the seizure of properties that belong to Shahrizat's family members and cut the losses on the rest.

Meanwhile, make sure that at least one member of Shahrizat's family goes to jail for criminal breach of trust. Only then would we believe that Umno is serious about reform.

Simon: Is Husni qualified to be a finance minister? What logic is he using to claim that the new company will pay off NFC debts.

This new company must either be staffed by a complete set of idiots or a bunch of Umno cronies. They will pay the debts and get projects worth 10 times the value.

They will take all that money and it will end up with taxpayers shouldering, not just the NFC debts, but the additional profits that the cronies cream from us.

How can we allow such unqualified people be ministers? Just for making that claim he must be fired on the spot.

Wira:: Husni, you are another stupid minister, second only to Shahidan Kassim. How can you agree to a letter of intent when "more negotiations need to take place before their intent is clear."

What is then in that letter of intent? A intention to establish intention? Would a likely outcome be that the new operator will be given a grant of RM500 million in order for to pay off the RM250 million debt?

Black Mamba: Did I miss something here? I truly need to learn from Kirmitonas Agro on finance management. Harvard University hasn't taught this topic yet on how to make money in an enterprise when before start up, is already suffering RM86 million in losses.

CQ Muar: Regardless of the nature of the loans, any irrecoverable bad debts must be accounted for and followed up with appropriate actions.

The Insolvency Department is piled sky-high with bankruptcy cases involving businesses that went bust, and banks showed no mercy or leniency towards such ventures.

Likewise, in the case of NFC, we are watching if the financing institution or government will take similar actions to penalise the defaulters/culprits.

Mushiro: Husni is so understanding that recovering the NFC money cannot be done in a blink of an eye.

But the money was given away to Shahrizat's family in a blink of an eye. I am very sure that none of this money will ever be recovered from the Wanita Umno chief - the RM250 million was given to her part of the loot.

The first operator, Shahrizat's family, 'pledged' to siphon the RM250 million. Now the new operator  has pledged to pay off NFC's debt. What has the government pledged to the new operator - a cool RM500 million?

Onyourtoes: You can negotiate all you want, the money is as good as gone.

What outcome can we expect from your negotiation with this new operator? Which operator would want to begin his operation by paying off debts incurred by others unless there is some compensation somewhere?

Husni, you can't create something out of nothing. There is no free lunch in this world.

Absalom: Normally, in the case of a bank loan, the bank will exhaust all avenues of recovering the loan from the borrowers and guarantors before looking at options of third parties coming in.

Why would somebody absorb the burden of such a big liability on a project of this scale where before he can recover his capital, he has  to pay off a huge existing debt. Unless of course, he does not have to come in with any capital.

Perhaps another soft and bigger loan from the taxpayers' pockets is on the cards in this exercise. And if the truth be too bitter to be told to the public, it can always be kept a secret.

What happened to the cows, condos and expensive marketing missions abroad anyway?

Clearwater: Who is behind Kirimitonas Agro and what is its financial backing? A RM2 company?

It's been nearly one year and MOF appears to be still groping in the dark. I think PKR's Rafizi Ramli is closer to the truth. Expect very little money to be salvaged from the NFC fiasco.

Multi Racial: Do BN ministers think Malaysians are stupid or what? Why would any company want to bail out NFC? Why is the government involved in this?

As far as the government is concerned, a mistake has been made. Their focus is to recoup the money from NFC. As for the business awarded, since NFC failed they are to be taken back and the government should do it right this time.

Tender the project and get the best deal for the country. Why is the government working on behalf of the NFC?

Bash: The people wants to know the outcome of the NFC investigations and  outcome of the trial before any such new proposal can be considered. Is this an attempt to whitewash the wrongdoings of the NFC directors?

TehTarik: No surprises here. Sharizat and family are the sacred cows. They are the untouchables and above the law.

Adsertor: The musical chair is in motion - one after another will commit themselves to paying the NFC debt, in the process, accumulate even more debt.

In the end, it is the taxpayers who are left with the burden and members of the musical chair dance will laugh all the way to the bank.

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