Why is UMNO now hostile to the PAC report on RM9 billion LCS scandal when earlier the Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had promised to act based on the PAC’s recommendations on the LCS scandal?
The Malaysian public are now very confused: why is UMNO now hostile to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the RM9 billion littoral combatant ship (LCS) scandal when earlier that Defence Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, had promised to act based on the PAC’s recommendations on the LSE scandal?
The latest development of the LCS scandal saw the current and former PAC chairmen trading barbs, with Johore UMNO deputy chief and former PAC Chairman Nur Jazlan Mohamd accusing his successor Wong Kah Woh of abusing his position to benefit Pakatan Harapan with Wong responding that the PAC was a bipartisan body and all of its reports were produced based on consensus.
Is Nur Jazlan trying to provoke the nine government members (three each from UMNO and Bersatu, two from PAS and one from PBB) on the 14-member PAC to repudiate the PAC report on the LCS scandal?
Is it all because of the forthcoming 15th General Election which UMNO leaders want to be held immediately or at least by this year?
I will withhold my comment and disappointment with Nur Jazlan over the his failure as PAC Chairman to expose the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal in the 13th Malaysian Parliament, which was bullied by the then Prime Minister to “cover up” what had been described by an United States Attorney-General as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
But I will always wonder why a chartered accountant could bamboozled into defending the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.
But Nur Jazlan should remember the statement of the Defence Minister, Hishamuuddin Hussein, when the PAC report on the RM9 billion LCS scandal was presented to Parliament on August 4, 2022.
Hishammuddin had said his ministry and all related stakeholders would take into account the recommendations made by the PAC report on the LCS scandal.
Hishammuddin had said:
“I take note of PAC findings on the LCS project released earlier today.
“We, at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), have given full cooperation and remain transparent while attending proceedings and PAC’s investigations process.”
The PAC report had pointed out that not a single ship had been completed, although Putrajaya had spent RM6 billion over the project given to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) via direct negotiations.
The Royal Malaysian Navy’s views were ignored by the Defence Ministry and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS).
Hishammuddin had said the cabinet had in April agreed to the LCS Recovery Plan that allows for a six months mobilisation period, allowing for discussions with original equipment manufacturers and vendors, subsequently finalising the LCS procurement plan as needed by the navy.
The cabinet also agreed to form a special governance committee chaired by the Treasury secretary-general, Finance Ministry’s secretary-general and Mindef’s secretary-general to oversee the mobilisation process and report to the cabinet.
I agree with Hishammuddin that moving forwards, the most important thing now is to ensure the LCS project can go on smoothly, as the LCS assets are highly needed for the security of the country’s waters, in line with the Armada Transformation Programme 15 to 5, and for the interest of the navy.
This is also why I agree with the DAP deputy secretary-general Liew Chin Tong that Hishammuddin should reveal what was the fifth supplementary contract signed by the Defence Ministry with Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) on the LCS project on May 31, 2022 – according to a BNS filing to the Companies Commission.
Will any sum from the remaining RM3.048 billion in the six LCS contract be released to BNS?
I must remind Hishammuddin he has still to answer two questions which I had put to him:
1. Why the Defence Ministry had reduced from two LCS to one LCS which must be completed and delivered by the contractor with no additional government funds before the government moved on with the LCS project. When Hishammuddin appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on 25th January 2022, he spoke about “corporate restructuring” of the RM9 billion LCS contract and that the contractor, BNS, will have to deliver two LCS without any new cost to the government.
2. Whether the contractor BNS has agreed to complete the first littoral combatant ship (LCS 1) without involving new government allocations.
The UMNO information chief Shahril Hamdan has made a very interesting video statement on his Facebook the day before, where he listed corruption cases involving several government agencies or GLCs to prove that corrupt people in high places are not always politicians.
He said it is a “wrong assumption that misappropriation, mismanagement, and the like must involve an instruction from ‘sharks’ who must be a minister or prime minister”.
The more pertinent question is who were the “sharks” in the RM9 billion LCS scandal – whether the then Prime Minister, Najib Razak and the then Defence Minister, Zahid Hamidi, were among the “sharks”!