AS the 15th General Election (GE15) nears, former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Wong Kah Woh spots a very irate man.
This is given commitment is very much lacking from the Barisan Nasional (BN)-Perikatan Nasional (PN) government or even caretaker prime minister (PM) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri to shed light on the latest development pertaining to the littoral combatant ship (LCS) issue.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for the Taiping parliamentary seat claimed that despite Ismail Sabri’s assurance that the Government has never neglected the LCS issue with action taken by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) to conduct investigation and facilitate prosecution, there has been no visible concrete action.
“I am very disappointed because Ismail Sabri thinks that means the end of the LCS scandal in the eyes of the BN-PN Government,” he pointed out in a media statement.
“Until now the BN-PN Government has still failed to present the direction of the LCS clearly. When will it be completed, and how much additional taxpayers’ money will have to be spent due to the failure of the LCS project. Another RM3 bil? Another RM5 bil? Another RM9 bil?”
With regard to the MACC prosecution in question pertaining to events that occurred in 2010, Wong is curious to know what happened to the MACC investigation on matters that occurred since 2011 (the year the LCS project was approved) until today.
“Didn’t hear anything at all. What is more important is that the BN-PN Government has failed to put together a plan to protect the pensions of armed forces personnel in LTAT (the Armed Forces Fund Board) as a result of the failure of the LCS project,” he lamented.
Wong stressed that Ismail Sabri should pay heed to the statement by LTAT CEO Datuk Ahmad Nazim Abd Rahman who stated in the PAC report that “… if this situation continues, it will expose the Boustead Group to a cross default loan which further exposes it to slip into the PN17 (Practice Note 17) status”.
In fact, if this happens, LTAT expects a “potential wipe out of about RM2. 1 bil of the pension fund money at LTAT”.
Moreover, loss-making Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd (BHIC) CEO Sharifuddin Md Zaini Al-Manaf has also been quoted as saying that “…if BNS (Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd) no longer exists, Boustead Holdings Bhd and LTAT will be badly impacted”.
“The plantation sector, Pharmaniaga, Boustead Properties Bhd and Boustead Hotels & Resorts Sdn Bhd will all be affected as well. This could potentially cause LTAT to lose up to 46% of its fund size,” revealed Sharifuddin.
At the end of the day, Wong is adamant to know what action has been taken by the BN-PN government in guaranteeing the pension of the LTAT armed forces retirees which has apparently been affected by the LCS scandal.
“I hope that, when the (caretaker) defence minister is now busy taking BN candidates to visit military camps before the early voting tomorrow (Nov 15), the minister should also inform us what is his guarantee for the protection of the LTAT pension fund,” insisted Wong.
He added: “Failed. BN-PN government failed.” – Nov 14, 2022
