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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Former Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said he will provide his full cooperation to assist Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its investigation of a littoral combat vessel. of 9 billion ringgit (2.95 billion Singapore dollars). (LCS) project.
The government was reported to have paid RM 5.94 billion to contractor Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) for the project that was commissioned in 2014.
The first of the ships, intended to patrol the coastal waters of Malaysia, would be delivered in April 2019. But none of the ships have been built.
Zahid said the fact that the contractor did not deliver the ships was highlighted only in 2019, long after his tenure as defense minister.
“I was Minister of Defense from April 2009 to May 2013. However, as PAC Chairman Wong Kah Woh pointed out, I think the issues over the failure of BNS to deliver the LCS accordingly only came to the fore in 2019.
“I would also like to say that these ships are being assigned to BNS, which is owned by Boustead Holdings Berhad, and two of its largest shareholders are the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) and the Retirement Inc Fund (KWAP), both of which are owned by the government.” it said in a statement on Friday (December 18).
The PAC is a body, made up of government and opposition deputies, created by Parliament to analyze public spending.
Zahid also said that the contract was awarded in accordance with the Direct Negotiation Procurement Application Guidelines, which state that the procurement of projects, particularly through direct negotiation, can only be carried out with the approval of the Ministry of Finance, not of the Ministry of Defense.
On the issue of late delivery fees in 2019, Zahid said the Defense Ministry had clarified that it had sent a demand letter to recover the fees from the responsible party to a control officer for approval, but to no avail.
“Finally, I believe that the Ministry of Defense had also made clarifications on the issue of progressive payments. I strongly state that the payments were made in 2019 when I was not the Minister of Defense.
“Therefore, he had no knowledge or control over the decisions made by the ministry to proceed with progressive payments,” he said.
He said that he understood that the PAC is responsible for improving and maintaining the government structure and administrative accountability framework in Malaysia.
“However, I strongly believe that the PAC should be more cautious in disclosing details of the ongoing investigation, particularly in matters of national security, especially when it is in an investigative stage and findings have not yet been established.
“This statement, however, should not and will not frustrate my intention to provide full cooperation and my best ability to assist the committee in the ongoing investigation,” added Zahid, who is also the former deputy minister.
On Thursday, Mr. Wong said in Parliament that the PAC would question several people, including Zahid, about the LCS project.
Wong also said that former Navy Chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar and a BNS representative will be questioned in the proceedings which will resume in early January, followed by a visit to the LCS ship’s construction site in Lumut, Perak.
The PAC has held four meetings and proceedings on the issue, in which Auditor General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid, Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense Muez Abd Aziz, former Attorney General Ambrin Buang and several other people were questioned.
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