Mat Zain: Najib must throw book at Shahrizat, Jamil Khir

By Shannon Teoh

January 02, 2012

Shahrizat said she is simply the wife to the boss of the NFC. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 — Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim urged Datuk Seri Najib Razak today to act fairly by taking action against Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom for allegedly abusing zakat funds and the family of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil over “even more abuse” in the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal. 

 

The former Kuala Lumpur CID chief has repeatedly called for Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir to be investigated for using part of RM63,650 in zakat funds to settle his legal fees, especially after Johor police pursued a tithe collector for misappropriating RM19,510 in zakat money.

Mat Zain added in a statement today that if zakat collector Reduan Mohd Said was sentenced to be whipped thrice and jailed four years, then “Shahrizat’s family faces punishment many times larger as the amount of public money involved is several hundred times more.”

“If the prime minister remains silent to protect Jamil Khir... then it is inconsistent and unjust since a tithe collector was sentenced for the same offence.

“If legal action is taken against Jamil Khir... it is still unfair if he (Najib) does not take action against Shahrizat’s husband and children who abused even more public funds for personal gain in the NFC scandal.

The former senior policeman said “abusing zakat or public funds fall under the same section in the Penal Code.”

Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat has faced growing calls to resign, including from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after repeated allegations including the use of public funds to purchase RM27 million in land and property unrelated to the national cattle farming project.

PKR first latched onto the issue after the RM250 million federally funded cattle project made it into the pages of the Auditor-General’s report for 2010, which described the NFC as “a mess”.

Since then, the party has made several revelations related to the scandal, including the NFC’s purchase of twin multi-million luxury condominium units in Bangsar, the alleged use of project funds to finance Shahrizat’s as well as her family’s personal expenses and trips abroad.

It also alleged there was a transfer of resources to unrelated companies in Singapore, as well as the purchase a Mercedes-Benz CLS350 for RM534,622 and two plots of land in Putrajaya’s Precinct 10 for RM3,363,507.

The latest disclosure by PKR, made last Tuesday, alleged that some RM10 million was diverted towards the purchase of luxury condominium unit in Singapore for the family of the women, family and community development minister.

Shahrizat has sought to deflect attention by stating she was “only the wife” of the national cattle farming project’s chairman and had nothing to do with the NFC.

The Auditor-General also revealed in his report that Jamil Khir (left) and two senior Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) officials withdrew zakat funds to settle their legal fees in 2010.

According to the report, Jamil Khir, MAIWP director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali and MAIWP chief prosecutor Shamsudin Hussain had withdrawn RM63,650 from the council’s zakat fund to settle their legal costs incurred when Anwar named the trio as respondents in his qazaf application.

The audit report also confirmed that the sum was repaid to the fund after the council obtained a RM70,000 grant in June 2010 as part of its general resources allocation from the government.

But PKR has said MAIWP only repaid the amount in December that year.

Citing legal provisions, Mat Zain insisted last week the trio had committed misappropriation of property under Section 403 of the Penal Code and should be punished accordingly.

He also cited Section 409B of the Penal Code, which states that if any offence prescribed in Section 403 and 404 is proven, “it shall be presumed that he had acted dishonestly until the contrary is proved”.

Jamil Khir denied on Saturday he and two religious officials had misappropriated alms money to pay their legal fees.