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).

NONE PAC chairperson 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 Tajudin 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.