PETALING JAYA: Shahrizat Jalil is expecting the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) issue to be played up in her bid for the Wanita Umno chief’s post.
However, Shahrizat said she was not concerned about people raising the issue as her husband had been acquitted in 2015, Utusan Malaysia reported.
The NFC issue saw Shahrizat’s family members, including her husband Salleh Ismail, who was NFC chairman, being accused of misappropriating a portion of a RM250 million loan granted to the company.
At the time, Shahrizat was the women, family and community development minister, as well as Wanita Umno chief, a position she held between 2009 and 2018.
“In truth, the NFC issue has been going on for 11 years, and when it happened I was the Wanita Umno chief.
“The opposition saw Wanita Umno as the party’s strongest component, so I had to face it,” she was quoted as saying.
She added that there had never been any case made against her on the NFC project.
Shahrizat said only Umno’s critics would continue to politicise the NFC issue even though nearly a decade had passed since her husband was acquitted.
“Now that I’m contesting, (they) will keep talking about NFC. It’s okay, let them go ahead, because they don’t even support (Umno). No problem, we expect it.”
Shahrizat also said that at the height of the NFC issue, she was still able to defend her post as the Wanita Umno chief.
“After the NFC issue, Umno held its party elections. At the time, I wondered if I should contest, but the Wanita Umno members encouraged me not to give up, so I contested and won even more votes than the first term.”
Last week, Shahrizat announced she had officially joined the race for the Wanita Umno chief’s post.
She said her decision to stand for the post was due to the urging of her supporters, and that she wanted to strengthen the wing.