DAP SUPREMO Lim Kit Siang wants to know why the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on six undelivered combat ships was only presented to Parliament at the eleventh hour.
This followed PAC’s last meeting on the six littoral combatant ships (LCS) for the Royal Malaysian Navy, which was on March 8. The report was only tabled in the Dewan Rakyat two days ago.
“It is a great remiss of parliamentary responsibility and duty not to ensure that the PAC report was tabled in Parliament in March 2022, as Parliament met for 16 days from Feb 28 to March 24,” Lim said in a statement today.
“This meant that there were 16 days for the PAC report to be tabled in the March meeting of Parliament. However, it was not done.”
The Iskandar Puteri MP also asked why the report was not tabled on the first day of the recent 12-day Dewan Rakyat meeting on July 18. The meeting ended on Thursday (Aug 4). Parliament will only sit again in October.
“Somebody seems to be purposely procrastinating so that the PAC report on the six LCS scandal does not get the public scrutiny and attention it deserves. Who is this somebody? Can the speaker of Parliament throw light on the matter?
“An explanation is owed to Malaysians for the delay in tabling the PAC report.”
“No ships ready yet”
Yesterday (Aug 5), the PAC said not a single ship had been completed although the Government spent RM6 bil on the project so far.
The first LCS was contracted to be delivered in April 2019, the second in February 2020, the third in December 2020, the fourth in October 2021, the fifth in August 2022 and the sixth in June 2023.
PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh also said the defence ministry and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS), which got the LCS project through direct negotiations, had ignored the navy’s views on the LCS project.
This includes views about a model design change after a proposal by BNS to then defence minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has since said his ministry will comply with all of the PAC’s recommendations for the project.
Meanwhile, Lim said Hishammuddin owes the Perak Raja Permaisuri Tuanku Zara Salim an apology as she was “misled” to launch the first stage of the LCS project in 2017, which has yet to be completed even five years later.
The naming and launch for the first ship (LCS1), valued at RM1.5 bil, was also graced by Perak Ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.
However, the LCS1 was less than 44% completed at the time of the launch, and was only to “provide the impression to the public that the vessel was already completed”, according to Wong.
A mast that was installed on LCS1 during the ceremony – at a cost of RM400,000 – was only a mock-up and to make it look “prettier” during the launch.
Lim, meanwhile, asked Hishammuddin to explain what the present status of the six LCS is, noting that the navy should have received five of the ships by August.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has since completed its investigation into the LCS scandal and recommended charges to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). – Aug 6, 2022
