Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Noh Omar is acting dumb by defending the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), which is accused of misappropriating RM250 million in government soft loan for a cattle-rearing project, says Selangor menteri besar's political secretary Faekah Husin.

"It's impossible that he does not understand the issue, if the uncles at the coffee shop can understand that this is a betrayal of the rakyat's money."

ngo pro selangor government rally 230111 faekah On Thursday, Noh had said that the NFC project was not a failure and the government merely needed to reorganise the venture.

"He had used technical excuses to say that the RM250 million NFC project was not a failure, even though he dared not say that it was a success," she added.

Instead of clarifying the controversy, Faekah ( left ) attributed Noh's comments to speculations that the latter had ambitions for the Selangor menteri besar's post should BN wrest back the state.

‘Explain or face electoral debacle'

"If Noh wants publicity, as a minister, he should explain for whom and for what purpose were the luxury assets purchased - what is the relevance of a Mercedez Benz bought using NFC's funds?" she said.

NONE Faekah added that Noh ( right ) should instead uphold his credibility and integrity in dealing with the NFC issue or he may not even be elected, let alone become Selangor menteri besar.

The NFC scandal first broke out after the Auditor-General's Report 2010 highlighted its weaknesses and PKR subsequently revealed a litany of alleged misappropriations by the company.

The controversy surrounding NFC, for which the executive chairperson is Mohamed Salleh Ismail, has led to his wife, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, to take a three-week leave pending investigation into the scandal.