TMI - Dr M, Pak Lah, Najib to be called by Liong Sik defence

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be among the witnesses called to testify in the cheating trial of Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, the High Court heard today.
Defence lawyer Wong Kian Kheong today read out the names of 12 members of the Cabinet from 2002 and the special economic adviser to the prime minister at the time, as among the witnesses he intends to examine.

Dr Ling was charged in July last year with knowingly deceiving the Cabinet into approving the land purchase for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), which resulted in wrongful losses for the government.

The former MCA president also faces two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet into believing that the purchase at RM25 psf and the 7.5 per cent interest rate were acknowledged and agreed to by the government’s Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

Dr Ling faces up to seven years’ jail and a fine if convicted of the principal charge under Section 418 of the Penal Code.

Wong is calling Cabinet members who were present at a meeting that gave retrospective approval for the development cost of the PKFZ project to balloon from RM1.088 billion to RM4.6 billion in 2007, and had given their statements to the police.

Among them are Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim, Tan Sri Dr Leo Moggie anak Irok, and Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.

According to minutes of a Cabinet meeting dated June 27, 2007 and chaired by Najib who was then the deputy prime minister, the Cabinet approved the cost increase to RM4,632,732,000.


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TMI - Pak Lah defends Shahrizat in cattle-farm scandal

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil need not quit the Cabinet to take the heat for her family’s alleged mess of the RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) cattle-farm scandal.

Abdullah, who was prime minister from October 2003 to April 2009, waded into the controversy today to defend the Wanita Umno chief after she came under attack from a partyman.

Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin had demanded the senator quit the Cabinet and take responsibility for her family’s alleged mishandling of the national project.

“Ask the individual concerned. What’s it got to do with Shahrizat? It’s her husband… Shahrizat’s not involved, so don’t ask her,” Abdullah (picture) told reporters.

“If Shahrizat were the CEO then sure [you can ask her] but right now she’s not involved and it is very unfair to label her as involved,” said the ex-PM, popularly known as Pak Lah, echoing Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Shahrizat, who has headed the Women, Family and Community Ministry since 2001, is married to NFC executive director Datuk Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children run the cattle business.

Allegations of financial impropriety have dogged the company owned by Shahrizat’s family after the Auditor-General revealed last month that the NFC had failed to meet production targets for 2010 despite benefiting from a RM134.72 million soft loan from the government.

The Malaysian Insider understands the NFC started operations in 2008, during Abdullah’s administration. At that time, Muhyiddin was the agriculture and agro-based minister.

The Auditor-General’s Report also criticised the NFC, pointing out that it was now “in a mess”.

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