Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said those blaming him for the failed procurement of the littoral combat ships (LCS) should show proof he interfered with the ships’ design or took money from the project.
“Please show me proof that Najib had ever interfered in changing the type of the ship from Sigma to Gowind or that Najib had ever taken money from this project,” he said in a Facebook post today.
As the LCS project was greenlit and awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) during Najib’s premiership, several opposition lawmakers said the Pekan MP should take responsibility instead of blaming others.
That came after Najib (above) attempted to pin the blame on former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad after BNS used part of its LCS funding to pay off debts from a previous New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV) project.
The move by BNS to pay off its old debts was highlighted in an Aug 4 report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The report also noted how the Defence Ministry changed the LCS ship design from Sigma to Gowind – against the navy’s wishes.
Sigma-class ships are combat ships designed by the Netherlands’ Damen Naval, while Gowind patrol ships are designed by French defence firm DCNS (now known as Naval Group).
In his statement today, Najib quipped that he would stop trying to pin the failure of the LCS project on others as long as Harapan can answer a few of his questions.
He once again claimed delays in the LCS construction were due to the previous Harapan federal administration and asked the opposition coalition to address this matter.
These allegations have been addressed previously by former defence minister Mohamad Sabu and his then deputy Liew Chin Tong.
Najib’s questions
He also questioned why Harapan, which was in the federal government from 2018 to 2020, kept silent on this issue when the April 2019 deadline for delivery of the first LCS was missed.
What did Harapan do to resolve the delay at the time, he asked.
“Why now, just before the 15th general election (GE15) that you all coordinate to make this a major issue of a late delivery for a project that was stopped during your time in government?”
If BNS ran out of funds to continue the project, what did the Harapan government at the time do to help the company, he asked.
“How much funds or loan guarantees did the Harapan government provide to Boustead to ensure this national strategic contract is resumed and progressing?” he asked.
Besides, he pointed out, the Armed Forces Pension Fund (LTAT) is a major shareholder of Boustead Holdings Berhad – the parent company of BNS.
One of the strategic goals of the LCS project was also to develop national capabilities to build and maintain navy ships, Najib said.
“If this project is not given to Boustead owned by LTAT, then who is the next best consortium or company with the right industry experience as well as the necessary construction dockyards to give the project to?” he said.
The alternative would be to buy ships built overseas, he said, but should Malaysia remain “just a customer”, he asked.
Lastly, he took a jab at the controversial RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project, which was initiated during DAP national chairperson Lim Guan Eng’s time as the Penang chief minister.
Najib compared the tunnel project and the LCS construction, saying he can show photos of the ships in various stages of construction, but asked where are the progress photos of the tunnel’s construction.
“Don’t you want to do a PAC for this too?” he quipped. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.