The minister, also Wanita UMNO chief, and her husband, arrogantly dismissed all allegations of wrongdoing, although it was the Auditor-General in its 2010 annual report which concluded that the NFC project is "in a mess".
I had written a few articles in this Blog, shouting "F"... words under my silent lips when NOT A SINGLE DELEGATE at the Wanita UMNO assembly challenged Sharizat's explanation that the project awarded during former PM Pak Lah's time, hence was it a surprise that UMNO Youth chief -- who happens to be related to Pak Lah by "marriage" -- Khairy J saw it fit to defend Sharizat like she was the mother of all UMNO kids?! (did I hear cows too?)
From the Malaysian Insider, which I am beginning to like more and more -- hence I use often as a news source for my commentaries hear! -- even if the ownership was/is still linked with UMNO, viz:
Bung Mokhtar sticks to stand that Shahrizat must quit over NFC
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin today stood his ground and repeated his stand that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil resign over the cattle scandal, despite growing criticisms from within Umno over his position.
The Kinabatangan MP’s action has earned him the ire and scorn of Umno supporters, with pro-Umno bloggers criticising him and going out of their way to defend the embattled Shahrizat.
In response, the outspoken Umno supreme council member said he was “well aware” that his remarks have made him unpopular among members within his own party, but stressed that the reason he did so was out of concern for the future of the Malay party.
“If there are even little cracks within Umno, it can cripple and destabilise the party in the elections. Whether or not this move of mine is seen as part of a vested interest, it is up to people to judge,” Bung Mokhtar (picture) told The Malaysian Insider.
“I do not expect my views to be agreed upon by all in my party. Everyone has differing views, so there will be a response, but I needed to say what has not been said,” he said.
The senior lawmaker, who hails from Sabah, charged that it was his “responsibility” to speak out on the matter, saying that he wanted to avoid the issue being a liability to Umno.
“I do not deny that Shahrizat has brought a lot of good to Umno, to the country, but it is not enough when there are mistakes,” he said.
In their attacks against Bung Mokhtar, pro-Umno bloggers have outlined Shahrizat’s past achievements and contribution as Wanita chief and a Cabinet minister.
But the senior Barisan Nasional (BN) backbencher stressed that Umno needed to look at what was happening “right now,” and how the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) issue was a dangerous one to the party if not dealt with effectively.
“Times are changing, people do not want to hear about history or past glories. We cannot continue to rely on Umno’s history, we need to look beyond this,” Bung Mokhtar said bluntly.
He appears to be the lone voice in addressing the touchy cattle scandal, as others appear to avoid or skirt the issue altogether.
When addressing delegates during the women wing’s assembly, Shahrizat said she had nothing to do with the RM250 million federally-funded cattle farming project and instead urged PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to resign over the allegations.
She reportedly earned wild applause from wing members during her speech.
The Malaysian Insider however understands that Shahrizat’s explanation had failed to satisfy a number of leaders in the party who, like Bung Mokhtar, believe the senior minister should bow out of the coming polls.
Bung Mokhtar has been openly critical of the NFC scandal and was the first Umno leader who called on Shahrizat to explain herself.
The Auditor-General’s Report released last month had criticised the NFC, pointing out that it was now “in a mess”.
The report said production in 2010 was only 3,289 head of cattle or 41.1 per cent of the target set.
But Agriculture Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar responded on October 31 that the project was a success as it met its target of 8,000 cattle by 2010 once 5,742 slaughtered cattle were taken into account.
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DESIDERATA: I went back to MI to do catchUP after being AWOL -- absent with official leave given by Self! -- and here's another "arresting" -- doubly defined as "interesting" and the other "as worthy of catching someone by his balls to put into jail" -- news piece, viz:
Umno leader linked to Alstom bribery scandal, says Singapore daily
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Already on the backfoot over a national cattle farming scandal, Umno is now rocked by allegations that a former leader took kickbacks from French engineering giant Alstom for a power plant project in Perlis.
The newspaper said the Umno veteran was directly implicated in Alstom’s indictment for bribery in securing foreign contracts.
Abdul Hamid is said to have been paid 7.5 million Swiss francs (RM25.5 million) to help Alstom secure a contract to build a power plant in Perlis in the late 1990s. He was the state’s mentri besar from 1986 to 1995.
The Singapore daily said both Abdul Hamid and his former business partner, Ti Chee Liang, were singled out in the criminal summons against Alstom.
According to ST, Alstom was fined €31 million (RM130 million) by the Swiss Attorney-General two weeks ago for failing to implement proper controls to prevent bribery by company executives in Malaysia, Latvia and Tunisia, an offence under Swiss law.
Alstom is a major player in Malaysia in the power business, and is credited with supplying key equipment for nearly 7.5 gigawatts of the country’s installed power generation capacity, the paper added.
Citing government sources familiar with the investigations, ST reported that the MACC will be questioning local Alstom executives in the days ahead.
Last month, Alstom’s Malaysian office denied it was aware of local investigation regarding the RM133 million fine by Swiss authorities involving contracts awarded to the company here.
“There is no probe ongoing in Malaysia that we are aware of and Alstom have co-operated fully in Switzerland. The fine is for corporate negligence in the past and not for bribery,” Alstom Malaysia president, Saji Raghavan, said in a statement.
“In fact, investigation confirms there is no systematic bribery and sufficient controls are in place,” he pointed out.
The company had described itself as a “subcontractor of a consortium” and a “victim of the actions of some of its employees, who would have benefited from kickbacks”, according to a previous Reuters report.
Alstom is the second French company in as many years to be fined for bribing government officials in Malaysia, after telecommunications firm Alcatel-Lucent paid RM435 million to resolve US criminal and civil probes in December 2010.
The four-year probe centred on payments made by Alstom Network Schweiz AG to middlemen — termed “commercial agents” by the company — in return for securing government contracts to build power stations in 15 countries since the 1990s.
Alstom was awarded a RM2.8 billion contract by Tenaga Nasional earlier this year to provide key power generation equipment to Southeast Asia’s first 1,000-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant Manjung, Malaysia.
It also won turnkey contracts in 1994 and 2000 to build four power plants including the 1,300MW Lumut and the 670MW Kuala Langat plants and deals in 2003 and 2004 to install environmental control systems for the Tanjung Bin and Jimah coal-fired power plants.
Alstom was also appointed by Tenaga to supply two 125MW hydro power turbines, a generator and ancillaries for the 250MW Hulu Terengganu hydro power plant in 2010.
Alstom says it is “the largest original equipment manufacturer in Malaysia” having supplied key equipment for nearly 7.5 gigawatt (GW) of the country’s installed power generation capacity.
Desi wit' a PS, can?
With so many scandals besieghing his party, PM Najib Razak might just take the current Parliment term to its FULL TERM, terminating April 2013. Hey, this gives the pundits another year-plus-five-months to write more speculation articles on when GE13 should be held. Thirteen by majority accalim, is an UNLUCKY number. My ending shot:
FOR WHOM THE 13TH BELL TOLLS, MR PRIME MINISTER, -- often dubbed by anti-UMNOristas as Najib Altantanya, I don't know why?! -- WILL IT TOLL FOR THEE?
Sleep wellA, all ye Malaysians with a GOoD conscience, you have nothing to fear IF THOU HATH DONE NO WRONG. It's the daylight robbers, pirates and murderes who will not sleep peacefully at night. Nor in bright daylight, for the demons of the mind roam freely at ALL/AWE TIMES/DIMES/CHIMES. Your lucky pick, my dear esteemedreaders, see how democrzy Desi is when his mind is spirited with the write ghost!
CHOW,
which can mean:
Seeya later:)
OR
Come, let's makan!:):)
YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual