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KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Several people, including former Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, will be questioned by Malaysia’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) about a RM9,000 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project million (S $ 2.95 billion).
The government is reported to have paid RM5.94 billion to contractor Boustead Naval Shipyard for the project that was commissioned in 2014.
The first ship to patrol Malaysian coastal waters would be delivered in April 2019. But none of the ships have been built.
In September this year, former Deputy Defense Minister Liew Chin Tong revealed that the 1 billion ringgit paid for the construction of the ships could not be traced.
The PAC is a body created by Parliament to analyze public spending, and its members are parliamentarians from the government and the opposition.
PAC Chairman Wong Kah Woh said former Navy Chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar and a representative from Boustead Naval Shipyard, the main contractor for the project, will be questioned in the proceedings that will resume in early January.
“The PAC will also pay a visit to the LCS ship’s construction site in Lumut, Perak, in January next year.
“The PAC aims to complete and present the PAC report on the supply of six second-generation LCS ships at the March session of Parliament,” Wong told reporters in Parliament on Thursday (December 17).
Umno President Zahid was Malaysia’s Defense Minister in 2014 under the Barisan Nasional government.
Wong said the PAC has held four meetings and proceedings on the LCS issue in which Auditor General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid, Secretary General of the Defense Ministry Muez Abd Aziz, and former Attorney General Ambrin Buang and several other people were questioned.
Mr. Wong said that the government must find a solution to the matter as soon as possible, as not completing the construction of the LCS ships is a serious matter.
“It not only involves weakness or failure in terms of administration, acquisitions and finances, but it also impacts the defense and security of the nation,” he said.
“The PAC believes that the government should decide on a solution as soon as possible. It is also important that the PAC accelerate this process and present its report to Parliament,” he added.
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