Why prioritise airport incident over LCS project, Guan Eng asks PM
Lim Guan Eng says Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has not commented or initiated any action after the PAC released its report on the controversial littoral combat ship project last week.
PETALING JAYA: DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has hit out at Ismail Sabri Yaakob for his apparent silence over the Public Accounts Committee’s findings on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project, raising questions about the prime minister’s priorities.
He pointed out that Ismail had yet to make any comment or initiate any action after the PAC released its report on the controversial LCS project last week.
On the other hand, he said, Putrajaya acted with “surprising speed” to form a high-level panel to probe claims that public services department (JPA) director-general Shafiq Abdullah had verbally abused a KLIA immigration officer last week.
This special committee is headed by Attorney-General Idrus Harun and includes Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Auditor-General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki.
“If such a high-level committee can be formed over the alleged verbal abuse incident at KLIA, why is a similar high-level committee not formed to act against those responsible for the RM9 billion LCS scandal?” the Bagan MP said in a statement.
“DAP has no objection if the government deems such a high-level committee as necessary to probe an alleged verbal abuse incident, but similar attention and importance should be placed on the LCS scandal when RM6 billion has been paid without a single ship delivered.
“Ismail must realise that (the LCS project) is a matter of public importance that demands full accountability and transparency.”
On Saturday, Azam said MACC’s probe into the RM6 billion purchase of six combat ships was in its last stage and its findings could not be revealed yet.
Earlier, PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said the defence ministry and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) had ignored the navy’s views on the LCS project over the design of the LCS.
Wong also said not a single ship had been completed although Putrajaya had spent RM6 billion on the project, which was given to BNS via direct negotiations.
He added that the navy should have received five of the ships by August this year.
No more payments for LCS project, says TI-M
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) urged Putrajaya against making any further payments for the LCS project until some of the ships have been delivered.
With no ships in Malaysia’s hands yet, it said, no more payments should be made until the navy received the vessels that were commensurate with the RM6 billion the government had paid for the project, and making sure they met the contract specifications.
In a statement, TI-M also called for all high-value and high-impact public projects to be reviewed by Parliament before approval, while ensuring that competitive tendering processes were used.
It called for mid-stream audits to be held for all public projects that involve billions of funds, and expressed the hope that this would stem massive cost overruns, wastages and delays.
The anti-graft NGO pointed out that various governance and audit structures were in place when the LCS project first began, and questioned whether these were playing the role effectively.
This included every ministry’s internal and external audits, integrity committees, the National Anti-Corruption Committee (JAR) led by the chief secretary to the government, and the special anti-corruption Cabinet committee headed by the prime minister.
“How could they have collectively missed all the red flags? Where is the oversight, governance, and accountability? Or has it become conveniently invisible, just like the ships that were supposed to be delivered?” it asked.
PETALING JAYA: DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has hit out at Ismail Sabri Yaakob for his apparent silence over the Public Accounts Committee’s findings on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project, raising questions about the prime minister’s priorities.
He pointed out that Ismail had yet to make any comment or initiate any action after the PAC released its report on the controversial LCS project last week.
On the other hand, he said, Putrajaya acted with “surprising speed” to form a high-level panel to probe claims that public services department (JPA) director-general Shafiq Abdullah had verbally abused a KLIA immigration officer last week.
This special committee is headed by Attorney-General Idrus Harun and includes Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Auditor-General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki.
“If such a high-level committee can be formed over the alleged verbal abuse incident at KLIA, why is a similar high-level committee not formed to act against those responsible for the RM9 billion LCS scandal?” the Bagan MP said in a statement.
“DAP has no objection if the government deems such a high-level committee as necessary to probe an alleged verbal abuse incident, but similar attention and importance should be placed on the LCS scandal when RM6 billion has been paid without a single ship delivered.
“Ismail must realise that (the LCS project) is a matter of public importance that demands full accountability and transparency.”
On Saturday, Azam said MACC’s probe into the RM6 billion purchase of six combat ships was in its last stage and its findings could not be revealed yet.
Earlier, PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said the defence ministry and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) had ignored the navy’s views on the LCS project over the design of the LCS.
Wong also said not a single ship had been completed although Putrajaya had spent RM6 billion on the project, which was given to BNS via direct negotiations.
He added that the navy should have received five of the ships by August this year.
No more payments for LCS project, says TI-M
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) urged Putrajaya against making any further payments for the LCS project until some of the ships have been delivered.
With no ships in Malaysia’s hands yet, it said, no more payments should be made until the navy received the vessels that were commensurate with the RM6 billion the government had paid for the project, and making sure they met the contract specifications.
In a statement, TI-M also called for all high-value and high-impact public projects to be reviewed by Parliament before approval, while ensuring that competitive tendering processes were used.
It called for mid-stream audits to be held for all public projects that involve billions of funds, and expressed the hope that this would stem massive cost overruns, wastages and delays.
The anti-graft NGO pointed out that various governance and audit structures were in place when the LCS project first began, and questioned whether these were playing the role effectively.
This included every ministry’s internal and external audits, integrity committees, the National Anti-Corruption Committee (JAR) led by the chief secretary to the government, and the special anti-corruption Cabinet committee headed by the prime minister.
“How could they have collectively missed all the red flags? Where is the oversight, governance, and accountability? Or has it become conveniently invisible, just like the ships that were supposed to be delivered?” it asked.
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