The LCS project, said to be the largest defence procurement in the country's history, has been submerged in controversy till last year. The Navy will receive five units of littoral combat ships (LCS) and not six. The reduction in the number of LCS ships from six to five units had been agreed upon by the government, said Navy Commander Abdul Rahman Ayob. FMT
An RM9 billion contract was awarded to the Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd to build six Maharaja Lela-class frigate or littoral combat ships for the Royal Malaysian Navy in December 2011. After observing all the contractual formalities, BNS along with DCNS of France was said to begin building the ships FMT. A staggering 6.08 billion have already changed hands without an iota of a mirage of even something resembling as close as a ‘Sampan’ was seen over the horizon till this day FMT.
The LCS was deemed a failure and after 11 long years, the US Navy has already begun decommissioning them from 2021 replacing them with the latest assets but in Malaysia, we have only just begun building them. Apparently, these Naval assets are plagued by a combining gear issue that affects its propulsion and is also antagonised by severe cracks in their hulls. These ships are now used as vessels other than for combative purposes.
The LCS project came under scrutiny last year after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that not a single ship had been completed or delivered.
Facts to ponder upon.
- The project was awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS).
- It was not through a tender process but via direct negotiations.
- Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the defence minister in 2011, former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Ministry of Defense chief secretary Muez Abd Aziz, former national audit chief Ambrin Buang, former Navy chief Reza Sany, as well as the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the BNS, were stakeholders in the make and the wake of this project. FMT
- The audit report by the Government Procurement and Finance (JKSTUPKK) and Boustead Holdings' internal audit report was declassified only after being forced by public pressure. C4
- The PAC findings showed that not a single ship was completed as the schedule was that the first ship was to be ready in April 2019, and respectively in February and March 2020, October 2021, and the fifth in August 2022. At the time of the declassification of the report, the progress of work stood at 44 per cent, 35 per cent, 32 per cent, 27 per cent, and 16 per cent respectively. CNA
- The sixth and final ship scheduled to be delivered in October of next year was still operating under the a myth of to be or not to be. CNA
- Both the Scorpene submarine and the LCS projects were linked to the Armed Forces Pension Fund (LTAT) and Perimaker, a shell company controlled by Razak Baginda. LTAT and Boustead Holdings Berhad (BHB) owned 40% of the shares in Perimekar. C4
- LTAT is a majority shareholder of BHB and has shares in Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Berhad (BHIC) and both have shareholdings in Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS), the main contractor in the LCS project. C4
- Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, a close personal friend of Najib Razak and former chairman of the 1MDB, was involved in the Scorpene scandal.
- As CEO of LTAT and a director of Perimekar since 1991, Lodin Wok is said to have links to the current LCS scandal because he was Group Managing Director as well as Executive Chairman of BHIC until 2018. C4
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which investigated the project has recommended that several individuals be charged. FMT We the Rakyat can only hope and pray that the MACC round up the usual suspects to charge and prosecute them without just turning a blind eye like in the other cases.
eashwerdass is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.