Why is Najib blaming fourth Prime Minister Mahathir and the Pakatan Harapan Government for the RM9 billion LCS scandal when the procurement of the six LCS was made during Najib’s time and not twenty years earlier when Mahathir was Prime Minister or the Pakatan Harapan Government after him?
Former Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu and his then deputy Liew Chin Tong asked a most pertinent question in their joint statement yesterday: whether the sixth Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had planned from the beginning for the littoral combat ships (LCS) project to help pay off the bad debts from the failed new generation patrol vessel (NGPV) project.
I would ask a more forthright question: Why is (i) Najib trying to blame Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister, for the RM9 billion LCS scandal when the procurement of the six LCS was made during Najib’s time – whether the conception, negotiation and signing of contract – and not twenty years earlier when Mahathir was the Prime Minister; and (ii) the Pakatan Harapan government which came after Najib’s sixth premiership?
Najib has attempted to link Mahathir to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) being forced to use part of the funding for the LCS to pay off NGPV’s bad debts.
According to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the RM9 billion LCS scandal, over RM6 billion of the ceiling RM9 billion LCS project allocation had been paid to BNS by the Malaysian government.
Of the RM6 billion, a total of RM745 million was used for the “bailout” of the New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV) project, which is a criminal breach of trust under the Penal Code.
Sabu and Liew have rightly pointed out Najib cannot disclaim responsibility for the Royal Malaysian Navy scandal, the NGPV project.
Najib was deeply involved in the NGPV project, being the Defence Minister from 1990 to 1995 as well as from 2000 to 2008.
The origin of the NGPV project dates back to 1990 when the Royal Malaysian Navy first planned to acquire 27 patrol vessels.
After getting approval in principle from the cabinet in 1993, the proposed construction and acquisition of the patrol vessels were included in the privatisation agreement of Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd (NDSB) between the Malaysian government and Penang Shipbuilding and Construction Sdn Bhd (PSC) in order to form a consortium called PSC-NDSB.
After the failure of the project, Boustead Holdings Berhad took over PSC-NDSB in 2005 and rename the company BNS the following year.
What is the amount of Najib’s responsibility in the NGPV scandal and the LCS scandal?
Instead of accepting responsibility for the NGPV and LCS scandals, Najib is trying to divert attention from himself by pointing to the past and to the future – blaming the fourth Prime Minister who resigned in 2003 and the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government from May 2018 to February 2020.