KUALA LUMPUR (June 26, 2012): The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found “quite a number” of weaknesses in the standard operating procedures (SOP) of two ministries on matters related to the controversial National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).

PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said that among the weaknesses in SOP of the Finance and Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministries include in giving instructions, and representatives and officers from the ministries not having the know-how when it came to their responsibilities as board members of NFCorp.

“They (the ministries) appointed their own officers to sit on the NFCorp board and I do not know if they (officers) were given proper instructions but whatever we came across … it sounds like the SOPs (were not) properly spelt out.

“The officers representing the ministries did not have the know-how to be on the board of directors.

“Maybe they knew their responsibilities but actions to ensure the proper procedures were followed were lacking,” said Azmi in a press conference after the committee’s meeting today.

He said the Companies Act (1965) has very specific rules and has spelt out the certain responsibilities that a company’s director should know or understand.

Fellow PAC member Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) elaborated that among the SOPs were how the agreements were drawn out, the approval processes, monitoring project reports, and the role of directors in the companies.

When asked on the roles of the representatives from both the ministries who were appointed as directors in NFCorp when it came to disbursement of funds for the various projects, Azmi refused to comment.

He said that the committee has asked the auditor-general to look at certain documents, as there are matters that require more clarification.

The NFCorp issue had come under scrutiny following the Auditor-General’s 2010 Report, which highlighted its failure to meet the annual beef production target set by the government.

The company, managed by former women, family and community development minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s husband Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, has been accused of misusing the RM250 million government soft loan for unrelated expenses.

Mohamad Salleh, 64, has since been charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and two counts of violating the Companies Act involving a total RM49.7 million.-The Sun Daily

Komen: