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Monday, August 8, 2022

Rafizi: Did Najib's 'French connection' influence LCS deal?

 


PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has accused former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak of influencing Putrajaya's design choice for the littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

In a statement today, Rafizi claimed to be in possession of leaked quotation documents and a "letter of intent" from French defence firm DCNS (now known as Naval Group) on the LCS project.

However, these documents, said Rafizi, were issued before Boustead Naval Shipyard Bhd (BNS) was officially made the main contractor on Dec 16, 2011.

"This means that DCNS (as the sub-contractor) had received prior full information on the project. In fact, DCNS had already submitted quotation documents and letter of intent even before BNS was appointed as the main contractor," said Rafizi.

Rafizi did not publish the three documents but provided reference numbers and dates.

According to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), BNS submitted its "letter of intent" on Oct 16, 2010, and received its "letter of award" on Dec 16, 2011.

Based on the dates given by Rafizi, all three purportedly leaked documents in his possession were dated between BNS' "letter of intent" and "letter of award".

According to Rafizi, he was also in possession of a report by Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC) - BNS' owner - which concluded that DCNS' quotation was "pre-determined" and thus improper.

Rafizi, who published excerpts of the report, said the BHIC investigators noted that DCNS had a history of bribing Malaysian officials and the matter was being investigated by the French authorities.

The former Pandan MP added that it was likely Najib had a hand in the design switch because of the latter's history with DCNS through the Scorpene submarine deal in the early 2000s. Najib was the defence minister when the deal was signed.

"He has a history of choosing DCNS for major projects. Apart from the Scorpene and LCS deal, Thales (French multinational company) was also involved in the LRT project in 2012.

"I await Najib's response," Rafizi said.

On Aug 4, a PAC report on the LCS pointed out that the Defence Ministry initially chose the Sigma design for the LCS project in May 2011 but two months later it decided to change to the Gowind design, from the same French manufacturer of the Scorpene submarine.

Sigma design of the littoral combat ship

"The decision to change to the Gowind design was made on July 11, 2011, following the recommendation brought by BNS to the defence minister (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) on July 8, 2011," it said.

Zahid helmed the Defence Ministry between 2009 and 2013.

Gowind design of littoral combat ship

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