PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli today alleged that the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) made a retrospective approval at its annual general meeting (AGM) to approve the purchase of two units of luxury condominium six years ago.

This allowed NFC executive chairman Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who was charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust, to be acquitted today.

This was, however, rebutted by Salleh after his acquittal . He claimed the relevant approval was given in 2009, the same year two units at One Menerung Condominium building were purchased.

"My sources has told me there was a retrospective approval given in order to make sure this cannot be considered as criminal breach of trust," Rafizi told a press conference at Parliament's lobby.

"I was informed that they had obtained the approval sometime in June. So, the (AGM) should have been held much earlier than that," he said.

"While I don't have a full memorandum of the articles of association, my guess is that this is made through an AGM. Usually a capital purchase of above RM10 million should have been made at an AGM," he said.

A retrospective approval is accepted under the Companies Act and it was also accepted by the courts as well, he added.

He said the NFC has only two shareholders - the government which holds the golden share and Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, which is wholly-owned by the family of Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

"Therefore, when an AGM is called, it only involves Salleh, the family as well as one or two representatives of the government," he said.

"If the one or two government representatives do not approve it, this is not possible (to pass the approval to purchase condominium)," he said.

Rafizi, however, claimed the administration of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had given the approval as the government representative who sits on the NFC board does not have the power to approve the purchase of condominiums.

"If the NFC scandal only involved Sharizat's family before, now it expands to Umno as the leadership of the party allowed the purchase," he said, adding that Umno had sacrificed its reputation to save Shahrizat

"Just because it is right by procedure, it does not means it is morally right," he said, claiming this has showed that Najib will not fight corruption and wastage.

"I don't know if we will ever see the full RM250 million (soft loan)," said Rafizi, who is also Pandan MP.

Transfer approved

In rebutting Rafizi's statement, Salleh said NFC had approved the transfer of money to the National Meat and Livestock Corporation (NMLC) Sdn Bhd on Dec 23, 2009 to allow the purchase of properties, including One Menerung Condominium.

"An AGM was held then to allow the (NFC) board to transfer money to NMLC," he said.

However, he said, the police had overlooked many things and instead charged him with transferring the money illegally.

According to him, NFC's board of directors and shareholders approved the transfer of the money knowing it would be channelled to its subsidiary – the NMLC.

"Actually, we had written to the Finance Ministry to make the NMLC the holding company (for NFC). Two-and-half-years later, the ministry wrote back asking us to make NMLC a subsidiary instead," he said.

"We actually transferred the money to our subsidiary but the process to make (NMLC) a subsidiary took longer (when compared to private companies) because we are dealing with the government," he said.

Salleh, who is Shahrizat's husband, said the purchase of the Bangsar property was approved by the board of NMLC back in 2009.