Certain quarters wants to damage the reputation of NFCorp

Audit was on the project, not NFCorp

KUALA LUMPUR: The Auditor-General said today the audit it conducted was on the National Feedlot Centre project, and not the company National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp).

In a statement released on its website, Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang also said nowhere in the report did it refer to the NFC as being "in a mess", adding that those words were used by other parties.

He also clarified that the audit analysis found that the objectives of the NFC were not fully realised due to several factors which have been explained in the Auditor-General's Report 2010. Among them, based on a implementation agreement signed in March 2010, the production target for NFC of 38,600 cattle for 2010 could not be achieved as the Entrepreneur Development Programme (EDP) which involves 130 satelite farm operators were yet to be implemented.

"If there are any elements of misappropriation in the implementation of the project, this should be revealed in the investigation of the authorities such as the Royal Malaysian Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission," he said.

Highlights of the Auditor-General statement:

audit was on National Feedlot Centre's performance, not NFCorp the company

audit analysis found that NFCentre had not fully met its objectives

the Auditor-General's report did not meantion chaos, "in a mess" or misappropriation. These words were used by other parties and should not be attributed to the Auditor-General.

from an audit perspective, there were weaknesses in the project's implementation

the audit on NFCentre project was done in an independent and professional manner, without prejudice to any parties

Below is the full statement from the Auditor-General (in Bahasa):

KENYATAAN AKHBAR OLEH KETUA AUDIT NEGARA

PUSAT FIDLOT NASIONAL

Ekoran laporan media mengenai beberapa isu yang menghubungkaitkan Jabatan Audit Negara (JAN) dengan projek fidlot di Gemas, Jabatan Audit Negara ingin memberi penjelasan seperti berikut:

2. Perkara yang menjadi fokus utama pengauditan prestasi yang dijalankan oleh JAN ialah pencapaian projek Pusat Fidlot Nasional (PFN) sejak penubuhannya pada tahun 2006 dan bukannya National Feedlot Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (NFCorp.) sebagai sebuah syarikat. NFCorp. adalah syarikat yang berdaftar di bawah Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia di mana Kementerian Kewangan Diperbadankan memegang satu golden share bernilai RM1.

Manakala modal berbayar berjumlah RM1.11 juta telah disumbangkan oleh Agroscience Industries Sdn. Bhd. Projek ini diaudit memandangkan ia penting dari segi pengeluaran makanan negara yang mana Kerajaan Malaysia telah memperuntukkan sejumlah wang yang besar berupa:

i) Peruntukan di bawah Kementerian Pertanian Dan Industri Asas Tani (KPIAT) berjumlah RM73.64 juta di bawah RMKe-9 bagi menampung kos pembangunan dan pengoperasian. Daripada peruntukan ini, sejumlah RM48.71 juta telah dibelanjakan setakat akhir tahun 2010 oleh KPIAT untuk menyediakan tapak seluas 5,000 ekar bagi projek ini. Kawasan ini kemudiannya dikurangkan kepada 2,000 ekar sahaja.

ii) Geran pelancaran untuk penyediaan infrastruktur berjumlah RM13 juta diluluskan kepada NFCorp. pada bulan September 2007 dan setakat akhir tahun 2010 sejumlah RM6.52 juta telah dibayar kepada NFCorp. untuk syarikat ini menyediakan infrastruktur seperti kandang dan jalan ladang.

iii) Pinjaman mudah (soft loan) juga telah diluluskan kepada NFCorp. yang berjumlah RM250 juta menerusi satu perjanjian pinjaman yang telah ditandatangani pada Disember 2007.

Setakat Mac 2010, sejumlah RM134.7 juta telah dikeluarkan kepada NFCorp. berdasarkan kepada tuntutan yang dibuat kepada Kementerian Kewangan.

3. Tujuan pengauditan dilaksanakan adalah untuk menilai sama ada projek PFN telah dirancang dan dilaksanakan dengan teratur dan berhemat serta mencapai objektif yang ditetapkan. Pengauditan ini

melibatkan semakan terhadap maklumat yang diperolehi daripada beberapa agensi Kerajaan seperti KPIAT, Kementerian Kewangan, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Veterinar dan juga daripada pegawai-pegawai NFCorp. semasa lawatan tapak dilakukan pada bulan Mac 2011. Berdasarkan analisis audit yang bersandarkan kepada maklumat tersebut, pemerhatian-pemerhatian audit telah dibuat secara bertulis untuk mendapatkan pengesahan dan maklum balas daripada pihak-pihak ini. Selain itu, perbincangan menerusi Exit Conference telah dibuat dengan wakil-wakil KPIAT sebagai Kementerian yang bertanggungjawab ke atas pelaksanaan projek ini sebelum laporan audit dimuktamadkan untuk dimuatkan ke dalam Laporan Ketua Audit Negara (LKAN) 2010.

4. Analisis audit mendapati objektif projek PFN masih belum dicapai sepenuhnya. Ini disebabkan berbagai faktor yang dihuraikan dalam LKAN 2010. Antaranya, mengikut perjanjian pelaksanaan yang ditandatangani pada bulan Mac 2010, sasaran pengeluaran PFN iaitu 38,600 ekor lembu untuk tahun 2010 belum dicapai kerana Entreprenuer Development Program (EDP) yang melibatkan 130 pengusaha ladang satelit belum dilaksanakan lagi.

5. Jika dibaca keseluruhan LKAN 2010 itu, tidak ada pun disebut perkataan-perkataan seperti kucar kacir, 'in a mess' atau pun penyelewengan. Perkataan-perkataan ini telah digunakan oleh pihak-pihak lain dan JAN tidak sepatutnya dipertanggungjawabkan. Pada pendapat JAN, sama ada terdapat unsur-unsur penyelewengan dalam pelaksanaan projek ini terpulanglah kepada penyiasatan pihak berkuasa seperti Polis Diraja Malaysia dan

Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia.

6. Pada perspektif audit, sememangnya terdapat beberapa kelemahan dalam pelaksanaan projek ini. Jikalau tidak, mengapa pada bulan Mei 2009 (sebelum pengauditan dijalankan), Kerajaan perlu menangguhkan pelaksanaan PFN sehingga satu kajian viability and business model (model perniagaan) dijalankan bagi projek ini?. Perkara ini ada dinyatakan dalam LKAN 2010. Ianya membayangkan Kerajaan Malaysia sememangnya sedar akan

kelemahan-kelemahan dalam pelaksanaan projek ini dan telah pun mengambil tindakan untuk menentukan hala tuju projek ini.

7. JAN ingin menjelaskan bahawa pengauditan terhadap projek PFN ini telah dibuat secara bebas dan profesional tanpa sebarang prejudis kepada mana-mana pihak. Sebarang kenyataan yang mempertikaikan kewibawaan dan integriti juruaudit JAN adalah dikesali.

Putrajaya

25 Januari 2012

That was the answer to the clarification asked by Datuk Mohamad Salleh Ismail, the chairman of The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) in the New Straits Times dated 23rd January 2012.

NFCorp's Salleh wants Auditor-General to clarify

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) said it was not the entity highlighted in the the Auditor-General's report.

Its chairman Datuk Mohamad Salleh Ismail, said there was a confusion between NFCorp and the National Feedlot Centre (NFC).

"It is the centre which is in a 'mess' and not the company I'm heading. My company is meeting the target," he said when contacted by the New Straits Times yesterday.

When asked why he had not clarified this earlier, Salleh said he had only realised that the two had been confused when investigations began on the centre and the company.

Salleh said he had written to Auditor-General's Department two weeks ago to highlight this matter.

"I hope they issue an official statement soon to clarify this.

"This matter has been going on for so long and various quarters have given their views, I just want this to be cleared."

Asked who owns the centre, Salleh said: "The centre is owned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry."

Earlier, Salleh, who is the husband to Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, had called for a meeting with Perkasa and 11 other NGO's to brief them on the NFCorp.

Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali said he was satisfied with the briefing given by Salleh and urged the Auditor-General to be fair to everyone by making a formal announcement on the matter.

He added that the Auditor-General's Department may have made a small mistake when preparing the national audit report as not all staff "were trained equally well".

"When they did the report, there were some elements that were accurate and some not so accurate because of weaknesses of the officers."

However, Ibrahim stressed that he was not taking sides and that he would leave it to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police to carry out a proper investigation into NFCorp's finances.

He added that Perkasa will stand by the results of the probe by authorities, pointing out that it was the group's responsibility to fight abuse of power and corruption.

On Friday, it was reported that, the Attorney-General's Chambers had returned the investigation papers on the NFCorp to the police.

In confirming the matter, its head of prosecution, Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, said it wanted the police to investigate the case further.

"The police had delivered the report to us on Tuesday, but we have since returned the papers," Majid had told the New Straits Times.

The police had, on Monday, completed their investigation after recording 54 statements, including those from NFC.

The controversy surrounding NFC started after the 2010 Auditor-General's Report described the project as "messy" and had failed to meet government targets.

NFC is the meat-valley project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan, aimed at increasing the production of meat and reducing dependency on import for such products.

The New Straits Times, 23rd January 2012

I am sure that there is a mala fide in part of Lim Kit Siang's [click here] part in this scandal since he seems to be adamant to express his views in the worst possible scenario as if DAP is the most clean party on the face of this Earth.....

The simplest way to say this is that this is a sabotage by the DAP or the foreign beef exporters to ensure the failure of the Farm Beef Valley because this is one of the way that the Muslims can do to ensure that the beef market can be penetrated by the Muslims.

Surely those infidels who have been in control of the market for such a long time is feeling the pressure when there is a competition from a Bumiputera company which will break their hold on the market.