Boustead LCS forensic audit report raises the question why MACC had not acted against anyone for RM9 billion LCS scandal although it was provided with all the evidence in the past two years

The Boustead littoral combat ships (LCS) forensic audit report is indeed a horror story of abuse of power, breach of trust, deception, mismanagement and sheer corruption of billions of ringgit of defence procurements, justifying Malaysia’s low “D” category of the high-risk of corruption of countries in Transparency International’s Government Defence Integrity (GDI) Index as well as the plunging score and rank for Malaysia in TI’s annual Corruption Perception Index.

It raises directly questions about the abysmal failure of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to fight corruption Malaysia.

I had observed that the three corruption charges against former Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd managing director Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor had nothing to do with the LCS scandal, as they predate the issue of the LOA (Letter of Award) for the RM9 billion LCS procurement which were issued on 16th December 2011.

As the three charges against Ramli pre-date the issue of LOA for the LCS procurement , which meant they related to other defence procurement scandals, I am still waiting for the MACC to explain why after 10 years, the MACC has failed to prefer a single charge against anyone for the RM9 billion LCS scandal.

But I was shocked when I read the forensic audit report on the MR9 billion LCS procurement.

The forensic audit report was prepared by Alliance IFA (M) Sdn. Bhd and it was submitted in July 2020.

MACC should explain why it had not acted against anyone one for the RM9 billion LCS scandal although it was provided with all the evidence in the past two years.

What is the use of having five so-called “independent” committees to monitor the MACC – the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, the Special Committee on Corruption, the Complaints Committee, the Operations Review Panel, and the Corruption Consultation and Prevention Panel – when the MACC could make such a disastrous error as not to charge anyone for the RM9 billion LCS scandal for over a decade?

I am troubled that there seems to be considerable similarity between the 1MDB scandal with the LCS scandal, and I would commend the report of the forensic audit of the RM9 billion LCS scandal as a “must read” for every Malaysian who wants to be updated on current affairs in Malaysia.