If Najib cannot rebut Rafizi’s allegation that a foreign firm had full control of LCS sub-contractor, it is additional reason why Najib is the “hidden hand” behind the RM9 billion Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) scandal

If former Prime Minister, Najib Razak, cannot rebut the allegation by the PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli that a foreign firm Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) had full control of the LCS sub-contractor Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn. Bhd (CAD), then it is another additional reason why Najib was the “hidden hand” behind the RM9 billion Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) scandal.

The PKR deputy president said RAD, a German defence contractor fully owned by RD Investment AG, held 49% shares in CAD.

Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC), a subsidiary of the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), had approved the purchase of a 51% share in CAD on April 28, 2010.

However, despite holding the majority share in CAD, Rafizi claimed that BHIC had given full control of the company to RAD, via a purchase agreement dated August 13, 2010.

BHIC’s purchase of the majority share came just a year and a half before the government appointed Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) as the main contractor for the development of the six LCS in December 2011.

The other question posed by Rafizi was whether Najib’s “French connections influenced the LCS deal.

Rafizi claimed to be in possession of leaked quotation documents and a “letter of intent” from French defence firm DCNS (the maker of Scorpene submarine and now known as Naval Group) on the LCS project.

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

Najib’s crony, the former LTAT chief executive officer Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, as then Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC) chairperson, said he failed to recall the board’s decision supposedly made in August 2010 and asked how Rafizi got access to BHIC minutes of 2010.

Lodin is asking the wrong question – which is whether there was a purchase agreement dated Aug 13, 2010, between BHIC (through its subsidiary) and RAD (through its subsidiary) where BHIC agreed that RAD has management control over CAD, despite BHIC holding a majority stake.

The ball is in Najib’s court.