The special government investigation report on the procurement of six littoral combat ships (LCS) for the Royal Malaysian Navy has been declassified.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has received a copy of the report and uploaded a copy of the document on its website.
In a statement, PAC chairperson Wong Kah Woh noted that some parts of the report were redacted but it did not materially affect the report.
"However, PAC is of the position that redacting such information was unnecessary because the names of directors and shareholders (of the related companies) are information that can be easily obtained through the Companies Commission," he said.
On Aug 10, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the cabinet had decided that the report prepared by the Committee on Procurement, Governance and Finance chaired by former auditor-general Ambrin Buang (above, second left) be made public.
He added the cabinet also proposed that the report from a forensic audit on the LCS project, which was carried out in 2019, be declassified pending the advice from the attorney-general and auditor-general.
The premier also vowed that a transparent probe would be carried out and those responsible punished.
Yesterday, former Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) managing director Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor was charged with criminal breach of trust in relation to the LCS project.
BNS was the contractor tasked to build the six combat ships.
The LCS project had come under public scrutiny after the PAC released its report, which highlighted numerous issues.
Firstly, the government had paid RM6.083 billion since 2013 but no ship has been delivered. The first ship was supposed to arrive in 2019.
The PAC report also raised the contention that the government ignored the navy's design requirements and instead followed recommendations by the contractor to use a different design.
The then navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar wrote 10 letters to protest against the design switch - five going to then defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and two to then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak - to no avail. - Mkini
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