NFCorp scandal report to be tabled on Dec 3

Published: Wednesday November 27, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM 

Updated: Wednesday November 27, 2013 MYT 7:30:11 AM

BY AT THE DEWAN RAKYAT

THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC)’s report on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) scandal will be tabled in Dewan Rakyat next Tuesday.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad said the report had earlier been submitted to the Dewan Rakyat secretariat.

“It will be tabled next Tuesday,” he told reporters after a PAC meeting at the Parliament building.

Nur Jazlan said the committee had made several recommendations in the report, which it hoped would be looked into by the authorities.

The Auditor-General’s 2010 report had highlighted the NFCorp’s failure to achieve its target of breeding 8,000 heads of cattle that year. The RM74mil centre in Gemas had only bred 3,289 heads of cattle, or 41% of the target.

During the meeting yesterday, committee members met the top executives of the Customs Department and Inland Revenue Board on certain weaknesses in the collection of taxes.

Nur Jazlan said that among the shortcomings were the late collection of taxes and the fact that not all taxpayers made payments despite being issued with assessment notices.

“For the Customs Department, we raised the issue regarding duty-free shops and how the department was monitoring tax collection from these premises,” he said.

The department, added Nur Jazlan, was also upgrading its internal information technology system – called U-Custom – as well as putting into place a special tax collection mechanism for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to be implemented in 2015.

“Currently, the Customs’ system on the GST is on a trial run and should be ready by next month. However, I believe both systems (on GST and U-Custom) will be launched in 2015,” said Nur Jazlan.

Meanwhile, in the Parliament lobby, MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the suggestion by Johor state executive councillor Ayub Rahmat for entertainment outlets, shopping malls and supermarkets in the state to be closed for Friday prayers was not a suitable option.

“While I understand that non-Muslims should respect the obligation of Muslims to perform Friday prayers, there should be other ways to remind Muslims of their duty.

“Closing these outlets will not only affect non-Muslims who frequent these places but businesses will have to bear losses of closing for two hours each Friday,” he said.