KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian parliament’s Public Balances Committee (PAC) tabled a report last week in the procurement of littoral combatant ships (LCS), two years after starting a probe in to the RM9. 13 billion dollars (US$2. 05 billion) contract.
The committee said the particular project to construct 6 ships was granted by the Ministry associated with Defence to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) through direct negotiation, and the government has paid RM6. 08 billion dollars or 66. 65 per cent of the cost up to now.
“However, not even among the LCS ships has been delivered. According to the timeline, five LCS ships should have already been completed and paid to us by August 2022, ” said PAC leader and Ipoh Timor MP Wong Kah Woh during a press conference last Thursday (Aug 4).
The problem first drew open public attention in August 2020 during the tabling of the 2019 auditor-general’s report in parliament.
Altogether, the PAC held nine rounds of proceedings from November 2020 to March 2022.
Among those called up to the process were former Protection Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, current Protection Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who also held the position from May 2013 to Might 2018, former navy blue head Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar and officials from Boustead subsidiaries.
According to Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Berhad, the LCS is a frigate-class vessel that can perform complex naval missions covering all dimensions of modern warfare, namely anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and digital warfare.
The purchase of LCS was a task under the navy’s transformation plan to reduce the quantity of ship classes through 15 to five, the PAC mentioned.
“Under the navy blue transformation, there were supposed to be 12 LCS. Nevertheless , this contract just involved six LCS, ” said the particular report.
Following a tabling of the PAC report, the Malaysian navy said that it fully supports the investigations of any leakages in the project and that those involved must be brought to proper rights as soon as possible.
It stressed that the LCS is a critical asset to maintain the country’s safety and sovereignty.
“The navy demands combat capabilities that are in line with the developments from the regional security geostrategic and geopolitical panorama, ” it stated in a statement upon Aug 6.