PETALING JAYA: Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz and defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein have been urged to disclose the additional costs needed to proceed with the project to procure littoral combat ships (LCS).
In a statement, former defence minister Mohamad Sabu and former deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong said the original contract value was set at RM9 billion, making it one of the largest-ever projects Malaysia had taken on.
“The first of six ships was scheduled to be delivered in April 2019. It has been three years and not one ship has been successfully delivered,” they said.
They added that a special investigation headed by then auditor-general Ambrin Buang found that only RM5.94 billion had been disbursed, of which at least RM1 billion was unaccounted for.
“In February 2020, Ambrin and both of us (Mohamad and Liew) briefed then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the LCS project, and recommended that those who are culpable be investigated and charged; and for the project to move forward,” they said.
This comes after Hishammuddin announced yesterday that the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, had unanimously agreed to proceed with the project to procure LCS.
He said the decision was made after taking into consideration two key factors, namely the LCS assets were much needed by the Royal Malaysian Navy, as well as there being 400 vendors involved in the project, with a financial implication of over RM4 billion.
“Hishammuddin’s announcement yesterday is in line with what we proposed. However, the project is back to square one,” they said.
Other recommendations made by Mohamad and Liew included a new timeline for the project, Ambrin’s report to be made public, and for the Public Accounts Committee to table its report on the project in Parliament immediately. - FMT
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