THE sentencing of whistleblower Rafizi Ramli this week has rekindled interest in the National Feedlot Corporation scandal, which proved to be good fodder for jokes at a Pakatan Harapan ceramah in Petaling Jaya yesterday night.

With a wit normally reserved for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, Rafizi had the crowd in stitches recounting his experience uncovering the 2011 “cows and condos” affair.

The Pandan MP also took the opportunity to respond to Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s statement that Rafizi was not the victim in the story, after Rafizi had been sentenced on Wednesday to 30 months in jail for breaching the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) by his disclosures.

Former Public Bank clerk Johari Mohamad was also sentenced to 30 months jail for the same offence.

“Shahrizat is right. I’m not the biggest victim in the NFC scandal because the cows were the biggest victims,” said Rafizi.

“They were first brought from Australia by ship, where some of them died. And then while they were being transported to NFC in Gemas, some broke their legs in the trucks and also died.

“And after they were brought to Gemas, they were fed palm kernels instead of grass resulting in more deaths,” Rafizi told the 400 people gathered to hear him in his first public appearance since Wednesday.

The other victim of the NFC disaster were Malaysians as their tax money was used to finance the project, he added.

Like the 1MDB and Felda land scandals, Rafizi said, the fallout from NFC continued to be felt today.

“The case began in 2006 after Barisan Nasional won its biggest mandate in 2004. This emboldened some of them to do naughty things. If we let BN win again, cases such as NFC will happen again,” said Rafizi.

“Till today, the RM250 million government soft loan given to NFC has not been repaid. One case of corruption will last decades.

“I heard recently that Shahrizat intends to contest the Sungai Besar constituency. If she does, I will follow her everywhere in the seat with a truckful of cows to remind voters of what happened,” he added.

The outspoken MP also took a jibe at Shahrizat, saying she and her family were not “victims” in the saga as her husband and children had received huge salaries while running the company.

NFC was a private company set up by Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd to create a sustainable beef industry for Malaysia. It received a RM250 million soft loan from the government  in 2009 and was to begin repayments in 2012.

Shahrizat’s husband Mohamad Salleh Ismail and their children Wan Shahinur Izran, Wan Izzana Fatimah Zabedah and Wan Shahinur Izmir were directors at NFC in 2009.

In 2010, the Auditor-General’s report highlighted NFC’s failure to achieve its target of breeding 8,000 head of cattle in Gemas, Negri Sembilan, while also noting its management failures.

In November 2016, Rafizi lost a defamation suit and was ordered to pay Salleh and NFC RM200,000 in damages for claiming that NFC had purchased a condominium with a bank loan.

Other speakers at the ceramah werre PJ Utara MP Tony Pua and Damansara Utama assemblyman Yeo Bee Yin, both of DAP, and Amanah Selangor chief Izham Hashim. – February 10, 2018.