Police 'whitewash' of NFC and Shahrizat is unacceptable - Surendran

I refer to the statement today by Deputy IGP Datuk Khalid Bakar that police investigations have so far not revealed any criminal breach of trust elements in the management of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC). The NFC is managed by Cabinet Minister and Wanita UMNO chief Shahrizat Jalil's husband and three children.

This is a transparent attempt by the national police leadership to perform 'damage control' on behalf of the ruling UMNO party. Why issue such a statement when investigations are still continiuing? It makes no sense for the police to state their conclusions before the end of the investigation. And why make such a statement all of a sudden, just as the high profile UMNO AGM gets underway?

Also surprisingly, the police have confirmed that they have still not recorded any statement from Minister Shahrizat, who is a key figure in NFC controversy. Why are the police avoiding calling in the Minister?

Unprofessional of police not to quizz Shahrizat
Significantly, this blatant police attempt at white-washing NFC and Shahrizat comes just as further embarassing revelations have been made about the NFC fiasco. Yesterday, PKR revealed that NFC had purchased prime Putrajaya land and a luxury car using the RM 250 million loan from public funds.

Coming in the midst of their last AGM before the 13th General Election, these new revelations are a massive blow to UMNO. The police whitewash of NFC is all the more shocking considering the scale of mismanagement and abuse of public funds that has thus far been exposed.

It seems DIGP Khalid Bakar expects the public to believe that there is no criminal wrongdoing by any person, despite public funds being used to purchase luxury condos, overseas trips, luxury cars and prime land.

This shameful statement of Khalid Bakar is further proof of the complete lack of independence and pro-BN stance of the police leadership. We call upon the police leadership, and also the MACC and Attorney General, to bear in mind that they exist to serve the rakyat, and we demand that they discharge their duties professionally and independently.






N Surendran is the PKR vice president and a prominent human rights lawyer