Negri Sembilan gov't eyeing NFC takeover
The National Feedlot Centre may be revived with the Negri Sembilan government on board, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Deputy Minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said.
The project was earlier managed by then cabinet minister Shahrizat Jalil's family but their firm National Feedlot Corporation's (NFC)'s firm was terminated when they failed to pay instalments for the RM250 million government loan.
Tajuddin told the Malaysian Reserve that the Negri Sembilan government is part of a partnership now in talks with the federal government to revive the ‘Beef Valley’ project.
However, he stressed that taking over the project does not mean taking over NFC’s liabilities.
"Taking over liabilities and taking over the project are two different things. NFC’s liabilities are their liabilities," Tajuddin is quoted as saying.
He added that the revived project will also avoid earlier mistakes.
The facilities at the Gemas operations still belongs to NFC, and whoever takes over will need to pay NFC for the facilities, Malaysian Reserve reported.
However, given that NFC still owes the Finance Ministry (MOF), "perhaps the company (that takes over) will need to pay MoF directly", Tajuddin (photo) said.
The Negri Sembilan government owns the 2,000 hectares of land gazetted for the feedlot project, the business daily reported.
In January, Johor investment arm JCorp submitted a proposal to take over the abandoned project but the deputy minister said there have been no updates.
The feedlot project was aimed at reducing Malaysia’s dependency on beef imports, but came into the spotlight in 2010 when the Auditor-General’s Report said it fell far short of targets.
This was followed by exposes led by now PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, who among others produced documents to prove that NFC had used part of the RM250 million loan to purchase a luxury condominium.
NFC said it did not meet targets because the government did not build an abattoir as promised, and that it invested in the luxury condominium unit while waiting for the abattoir to be built.
The scandal led to Shahrizat’s resignation as women, family and community development minister but she remains as Umno Wanita chief.
Her husband and NFC chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail is facing charges of criminal breach of trust , while Rafizi is facing charges under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act.
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