Ex-federal minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that she was not embarrassed when the Auditor-General’s Report highlighted problems in the National Feedlot Centre project.

Under cross-examination by lawyer Ranjit Singh in her RM100 million defamation suit against two PKR leaders, she said the project in Gemas and the company - National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) managed by her husband Mohd Salleh Ismail - are separate entities.

NONE "The audit report is on the centre and not on the company. The auditor-general does not audit private companies," she said.

Shahrizat, the former women, family and community development minister, maintained that she initially did not know the details of the bid put in by her husband to run the feedlot project.

And now that she knows, she claimed not to know the full details.

Shahrizat agreed that the auditor-general’s remarks warranted debate by front-benchers and lawmakers, including opposition legislators,  in Parliament.

Ranjit: Would you agree that if the project does not meet the beef self-sufficiency target, then it would be considered a failure?

Shahrizat: No, I don’t agree.

Ranjit: If it failed, there will be no satellite (farms) in rural areas as stated in the report ...

Shahrizat: Yes.

Ranjit: Would you agree that, if the centre failed, it would jeopardise the NFC’s repayment (of the RM250 million government soft loan)?

Shahrizat: No I don’t agree. They might have other plans and that question should be directed to NFC.

The AG Report states that the centre had not produced a fodder factory, a bio-gas factory to generate electricity for the project, abattoir or comply with a blue ocean strategy of targeting to produce 60,000 quality head of cattle by 2015. The satellite farms had also not been established as targeted.

Explaining further, Shahrizat said although several press reports had described the project to be in a mess , such a description was not there in the AG Report.

“No, I felt the truth had to be told. The defendants (Rafizi Ramli and Zuraida Kamaruddin) had misrepresented  what was said in the AG Report,” she said, adding that in the beginning, she did not feel embarrassed by all the allegations raised, but later she did.

Husband is qualified in food science

Shahrizat in describing her husband's qualification described Salleh as a scientist with a Masters and PhD degrees from Cornell University, an Ivy League institution that is a top agriculture university in the United States, and a consultant with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation as well.

NONE Asked by Ranjit whether Salleh had any experience in rearing cattle on a large scale, Shahrizat quipped that her husband is a Kelantanese and he came from a village and that he would have gained the experience if given the opportunity.

“He is a consultant with the UN and has the expertise and is qualified in to talk about it,” she said.

Asked whether she knew that Salleh's PhD thesis was on “budu” (the Kelantan anchovy sauce), Shahrizat said she was not sure.

However, she admitted that her husband had the nickname 'Salleh budu'.

“He is a Kelantanese and he likes to eat budu, like all Kelantanese,” Shahrizat replied.

Scrutiny by PAC

As to why the project was scrutinised under the AG Report, Shahrizat said the auditor-general was carrying out his constitutional duty to report to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the report is tabled in Parliament for debate.

She also understood that the nature of the audit report was merely to safeguard public interests, to ensure that adequate precautions were taken by the government to safeguard the people's money and to ensure that projects were carried out efficiently with the loans given out.

“The AG report is of importance as it shows the government is spending above board,” she said in agreement adding that this is so for high impact projects like the NFC.

 

Shahrizat said she was also familiar with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a form of parliamentary select committee, with members from both sides of the House, to examine the AG Report, and that it would monitor issues of public interest.

“It is to ensure transparency in government operations,” she said in agreeing with Ranjit.

She admitted that the PAC had looked into the NFC project as it had looked at other losses suffered by the government, such as the Sime Darby group, Pos Malaysia and the Port Klang Free Zone.

“Looking into the particular matter, it would give the perception that something was not right over the project, and it was not wrong for public to perceive that something is wrong.”

The hearing continues on Monday before judicial commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

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