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PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak has asked former anti-bribery chief Latheefa Koya, a Pakatan Harapan minister and his deputy for updates on the investigation carried out into a halal meat cartel scandal, first reported in October from last year.
He said Latheefa had promised to investigate the matter on November 5, 2019 and “update it later.”
“After that, the issue was not raised again until last week. Latheefa was not updated on the issue. She resigned four months later when the PH administration collapsed, ”she wrote on her Facebook page.
Najib said that former minister of religious affairs Mujahid Yusof Rawa had said yesterday that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was not involved and had not investigated the case of the smuggled frozen meat.
Because of that, Najib said the public should ask Latheefa, Muhajid and his then deputy, Fuziah Salleh, about the status of the investigation in the last four months of PH in Putrajaya.
Yesterday a news website quoted Mujahid as saying that he had given instructions for a detailed investigation to be carried out, including inviting MACC to investigate the matter.
But Mujahid said MACC did not get involved in the matter while he held the ministerial post.
Najib also said the issue was not raised when he was prime minister. “The government did not receive any official complaint in this regard,” he added.
Checks with the relevant ministers in charge during his tenure as prime minister also showed that no complaints were received and that the media did not highlight the problem, Najib said.
“It’s a big problem and the BN coalition would have taken action if there were complaints or information.”
He said that after doing some research, he discovered that the issue was first raised in October 2019 by the Asia Sentinel news site about the termination of halal certification by the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) to a body. Australian. Another article from November 8, 2019 referred to documents on alleged corruption in Malaysia’s halal certification process.
On December 21, it was revealed that senior officials from at least four government agencies were believed to be working hand in hand with a cartel specializing in bringing non-certified meat, including kangaroo and horse meat, to Malaysia and passing it off as products with halal certification.
The New Straits Times cited anonymous sources as claiming that these senior officers, tasked with ensuring that halal standards were upheld, had received bribes and sexual services in exchange for ensuring that the cartel’s operations were undetected.
The only countries that have been certified by the Malaysian authorities for halal meat imports are Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, with imports handled by Jakim and the Department of Veterinary Services .
