Najib, your arse will burn if you continue to bury this

'RM250mil for minister's spouse' claim raised again

Hazlan Zakaria 2:37PM Oct 10

A soft loan of RM250 million was disbursed to a company owned by the spouse of a federal minister - despite the company and the individual having no expertise in the feedlot agricultural venture ventured into.

"The feedlot project costing around RM250 million involved the husband and son of a minister in the premier's cabinet," Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said when debating the 2012 Budget Bill in Parliament today. While the claim in itself is not new, said Anwar, who had asked the same question during a parliamentary session last year, which he said was never answered by the prime minister.

This, Anwar said, showed a pattern of how the government's policies seemed to favour the rich and the well-connected.

In his retort to Anwar, Azmi Khalid (BN-Padang Besar) said those awarded the RM250 million soft loan deserved the award. "But they are experts," he said in coming to the government's defence. After the lunch break, Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusof reignited the issue in the House by asking for further explanation. "The money was approved by the minister concerned, while the company belonged to their son.

"If there is any expertise at all, I believe it is in the misappropriation of funds," he said. Yusmadi (right) also said that the amount of money involved was quite substantial and it was of no small concern that the problem had yet to be addressed by the government. To this, Anwar said information on the possible conflict of interest was already out in the open, yet the government had remained silent and no action was taken.

As such, he said, this could only bring about serious concerns over the government's sincerity in helping farmers and herders with the funds that is supposed to help boost the national food production. "In the end, it only benefits the super-rich cronies," Anwar lamented.

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