Noh Omar mengaku dia towkay udang...

Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, Datuk Seri Noh Omar (gambar) mengakui mempunyai pegangan dalam projek penternakan udang di Tanjong Karang tetapi menegaskan ia bukan satu kesalahan.

"Jadi, seorang menteri perumahan tidak boleh beli rumah. Apakah itu juga konflik kepentingan?" soal beliau balik apabila ditanya wartawan mengenainya.

Menurut laporan akhbar Sin Chew Daily hari ini, beliau mendakwa ketika tanah seluas 30 ekar di Bagan Tengkorak dimilikinya, beliau belum lagi dilantik sebagai menteri pertanian.

Dewan Negeri Selangor baru-baru ini digemparkan tentang skandal pembelian tanah oleh Timbalan Pengerusi Perhubungan Umno Selangor, Datuk Seri Noh Omar di Bagan Tengkorak, Tanjong Karang pada 1995.

Lebih lagi, Noh, yang sekarang Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, telah memulakan projek ternakan udang pada tahan 30 ekar itu bersama sebuah syarikat Pristine Agrofood Sdn Bhd.

Penglibatan Noh di dalam syarikat itu, kata Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) (gambar) yang mendedahkan skandal tersebut, menimbulkan persoalan percanggahan kepentingan kerana Noh merupakan menteri yang bertanggungjawab mengelola industri itu.

Noh membeli tanah 30 ekar itu dengan hanya membayar RM100,000 berbanding harga asal kira-kira RM3 juta pada ketika itu, kata Suee Lim.

Katanya, tanah itu yang asalnya berstatus komersil kemudiannya ditukar kepada tanah pertanian demi menjayakan projek ternakan udang itu pada 2011.

“Rakyat susah untuk mendapat tanah tetapi seorang pemimpin kanan diberi tanah dengan mudah pada ketika itu. Saya telah melawat kawasan itu dan mendapati statusnya adalah untuk ternakan udang,” katanya semasa sesi perbahasan di hari terakhir persidangan itu.

"Tambahan pula, tanah itu bukan milik saya sendiri. Ya, saya menjalankan perniagaan penternakan udang bersama dengan ahli perniagaan lain, ini pun tidak boleh ke?" katanya ketika menjawab soalan wartawan selepas melancarkan satu program Bank Pertanian semalam.

"Saya mesti menegaskan bahawa perniagaan ini dikongsi dengan orang lain. Ia adalah sesuatu yang saya lakukan sebelum menjadi menteri. Saya membuat perniagaan itu bukan kerana Kementerian Pertanian, jadi apa yang salahnya?" kata Noh sebagaimana dilaporkan oleh akhbar Cina itu.

Mengenai sama ada perniagaan penternakan udang itu akan menimbulkan isu konflik kepentingan kerana kedudukan portfolio beliau, Noh menyangkal.

Sebab beliau menjalankan perniagaan penternakan udang ialah keinginan untuk merasai kehidupan seorang petani dan beliau sendiri berminat dalam pertanian.

Sementara itu, pengarah Pristine Agrofood Sdn Bhd, Chu Bak Teck menafikan dakwaan bahawa ia berniaga dengan Noh dalam projek usahasama ternakan udang itu.

Bercanggah dengan Noh, Chu sebelum ini memberitahu Malaysiakini bahawa menteri berkenaan hanyalah pemilik sebahagian projek penternakan udang itu seluas 100 ekar di Tanjung Karang, dan syarikatnya adalah penyewa.-harakahdaily

 Noh admits holding stake in prawn farm...

Agriculture Minister Noh Omar has admitted having a stake in a  Tanjong Karang prawn farming business, insisting that there was nothing wrong in doing so.

According to a Sin Chew Daily report today, he had claimed that when the 30-acre land in Bagan Tengkorak was his, he had yet to be appointed agriculture minister.

"Furthermore, the land didn't belong to me personally. Yes, I'm doing prawn farm business together with other businessmen, this also cannot?" he retorted when asked by journalists after launching an Agriculture Bank programme yesterday.
 
"I must emphasise, this business is shared with others. It was something I did before becoming minister. I landed the business not because of the Agriculture Ministry, so what's wrong with that?"

Noh Omar (left) also laughed off Sekinchan state assemblyperson Ng Swee Lim's concern that should he become Selangor MB, more land would be siphoned off by BN politicians.

"I haven't become MB, yet he is already worried. In any case, I am not interested in becoming MB."

On whether the prawn farm business would raise a conflict of interest issue given the nature of his portfolio, Noh Omar rebutted: "So a housing minister cannot buy a house? Is that also conflict of interest?"

His reason for taking to the prawn farm business was the desire to experience a farmer's life and he was personally interested in farming.

Joint venture claim denied

Meanwhile, Pristine Agrofood Sdn Bhd director Chu Bak Teck denied claims that it had teamed up with Noh in the joint-venture prawn farming project.

Contradicting Noh, Chu had earlier told Malaysiakini that the minister was merely the owner of a portion of the 100-acre prawn farm in Tanjung Karang, of which his company is the tenant.

The farm had claimed that it has no links with the federal government, but conceded that the company did secure a loan from the Agro Bank under the Fund for Food (3F) scheme.

Agro Bank is run by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry, headed by Noh.

On Wednesday, Ng told the Selangor legislative assembly that Noh had been engaged in a joint-venture with Pristine Agrofood since last year, which he charged was in conflict with his ministerial position.

Documents supplied by Ng showed that Noh had acquired the land in 1995, the year he became MP for the Tanjung Karang parliamentary seat. He was appointed agriculture minister in 2009.- malaysiakini

Noh mengakui ada pegangan dalam ternakan udang

 cheers.