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A criminal scheme to loot and launder public funds
Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein recently announced that the government will proceed with the troubled littoral combat ship (LCS) procurement project. Going by media reports, he offered three reasons for the government’s decision: first, the navy needs the vessels; second, the vendors and companies involved needed to be compensated; and third, failure to resolve the issue would negatively impact the financial standing of the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) and its contributors who are retired armed forces personnel.
Boustead Naval Shipyard, which was awarded the LCS contract, is a subsidiary of Boustead Holdings which is 59.4% owned by LTAT.
The project for the construction of the 6 ships, originally valued at RM9.128 billion, was signed in 2014 with the first vessel to be delivered in 2019. It was the largest single defence procurement project in Malaysia’s history. Everything, it seems, quickly went wrong after that. According to reports, although the government paid out some RM6 billion, not a single vessel has been built. What’s worse, close to RMI billion cannot even be accounted for.
A criminal scheme to loot and launder public funds
Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein recently announced that the government will proceed with the troubled littoral combat ship (LCS) procurement project. Going by media reports, he offered three reasons for the government’s decision: first, the navy needs the vessels; second, the vendors and companies involved needed to be compensated; and third, failure to resolve the issue would negatively impact the financial standing of the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) and its contributors who are retired armed forces personnel.
Boustead Naval Shipyard, which was awarded the LCS contract, is a subsidiary of Boustead Holdings which is 59.4% owned by LTAT.
The project for the construction of the 6 ships, originally valued at RM9.128 billion, was signed in 2014 with the first vessel to be delivered in 2019. It was the largest single defence procurement project in Malaysia’s history. Everything, it seems, quickly went wrong after that. According to reports, although the government paid out some RM6 billion, not a single vessel has been built. What’s worse, close to RMI billion cannot even be accounted for.
Both the Public Accounts Committee as well as the Auditor-General found that the project was riddled with questionable payments and mismanagement. Several individuals involved in the project were arrested by the MACC and investigations are continuing.
It isn’t the first time, of course, that a defence procurement project has gone awry. In fact, it has been happening with sickening regularity. Over the years, billions have been spent on aircraft that had to be grounded, helicopters that were not delivered, submarines that had problems diving and ghost patrol vessels and ships of dubious quality. Is anyone surprised that we are caught up in yet another huge defence procurement scandal?
It’s all well and good for the defence minister to now talk about the needs of the navy or the interests of the vendors and retired armed forces personnel, but what about the interests of the taxpayers?
Don’t they deserve at least an explanation about what happened to the RM6 billion that has already been spent? Was the money stolen or misappropriated? Who is responsible for this colossal loss of public funds? Whatever it is, it is simply criminal to proceed with the project without a thorough, transparent and independent investigation into what went wrong and who was responsible for the fiasco.
Perhaps the greater scandal is that despite all the defence procurement fiascos that have taken place going back decades, not a single politician, senior general, senior civil servant or CEO has ever been taken to task, leave alone jailed, for malfeasance, corruption or dereliction of duty?
Each time a project is in danger of failing (or each time a big government-linked entity runs into financial difficulties), the government rushes in to bail them out with public funds on the grounds that bumiputeras will suffer loss. Didn’t they think of the bumiputeras when they were dishing out contracts to their cronies? Didn’t the people who were responsible for managing the projects not think of their fellow bumiputeras when they were colluding and conspiring amongst themselves to misappropriate funds? Why should the taxpayers have to pay for their greed, dishonesty and incompetence?
It is not just unfair to the millions of other taxpayers but without accountability and transparency, every project and every bumiputera enterprise becomes an opportunity for select bumiputeras politicians and their cronies to steal and misappropriate public funds. If this is what the bumiputera agenda has become, then it is an iron yoke upon the people of Malaysia – bumiputera and non-bumiputera; it’s nothing more than an officially-sanctioned criminal scheme to loot and launder public funds.
The sad thing is that Malaysians know of the greed of those with the right connections.
ReplyDeleteWe know too of the connivance of the relevant people to loot the country.
Sadder still is that there is an unspoken agreement to let the matter slide into oblivion to protect the "right" people.
I personally don't believe that it is difficult to investigate the missing MR6 bil.
I would start asking for payment documents for the MR6 bil and who approved those payments when no vessel was built.
"Perhaps the greater scandal is that despite all the defence procurement fiascos that have taken place going back decades, not a single politician, senior general, senior civil servant or CEO has ever been taken to task, leave alone jailed, for malfeasance, corruption or dereliction of duty?"
No Mr Ignatius, these are not fiascos but systemic robbing of the country. Because fiascos indicate incompetency not criminilality.
And frankly, the MACC is useless. Whatever name you call this anti-corruption agency ACA or MACC,the fact of the matter is that it answers and bends to its political masters.
It would not be surprising if nobody is prosecuted in the end. I would be very happy to be proven wrong but that is like waiting for pigs to fly.
Before THIS LCS scandal was the Kedah-Class Offshore Petrol Vessel Scandal in the 2000's.
ReplyDeleteOy six were delivered, wat,way overbudget, seriously years overdue, and today, they are only armed with guns, like WWII ships, totally outgunned and defenceless against missile-armed opponents.
The officers in the original RMN Acceptance Board refused to sign odd on the ships, and they were replaced with officers who were willing to do the bidding of the Corrupt authorities.
This failure and corruption may well be paid in blood in future.