KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — Several key officials involved in the controversial National Feedlot Centre (NFC) cattle farming project will take the rap next week when Parliament finally tables the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the multimiliion ringgit scandal.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohame confirmed this today but would not reveal more on the panel's probe on the project which the Auditor-General's 2010 report had highlighted for alleged discrepancies.

Last week, Nur Jazlan had said the report was due out today but explained here that the papers were in the hands of the Parliament Secretary who would make the final preparation for its tabling next week.

“We have submitted the report to the Parliament Secretary and they will decide on when to table it,” he told a press conference after chairing a PAC meeting in Parliament here.

The NFC scandal hit media headlines two years ago when the A-G’s 2010 Report highlighted the failure of the federally-funded project in achieving its target of breeding 8,000 head of cattle in Gemas, Negri Sembilan, in 2010, besides noting National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFCorp) management failures.

The scandal gained traction when it was revealed that the project was awarded to NFCorp that was operated by the family of then-women, family and community development minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Although the NFC issue had led to her senatorship being allowed to lapse and costing her the Cabinet post as a result, the recently re-elected Wanita Umno chief was later appointed as a special advisor to the prime minister on women’s affairs.

But Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail (picture), who chairs the National Feedlot Corporation that operated the RM250 million project, remains on trial for two counts of criminal breach of trust involving some RM49.7 million with regards to the purchase of two condominium units and two other charges under the Companies Act.

In July, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the government has received RM79.9 million from the RM250 million loaned to NFCorp for its NFC project, through the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.

He said the government also sealed NFC’s assets worth RM23.3 million, namely two pieces of land in Putrajaya, two units of real estate in Menerung Township Villa and three plots of land in Gemas.

Last month, it was revealed that talks for another firm to take over the project had collapsed, with the Finance Ministry confirming that negotiations with Kirimitonas Agro Sdn Bhd (KASB), a joint-venture company between a local investor and a meat-producing company in Japan, have ended.