THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is to be blamed for the delay in the delivery of the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) state-of-the-art littoral combat ships (LCS), Najib Razak said today.

The former prime minister said that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was also mistaken on the date on which the project agreement was signed.

“PH delayed the LCS project in 2018, and froze it in 2019 and now they are asking why no ships have been handed over in 2022,” Najib said in a Facebook post.

“The LCS project was signed on July 17, 2014 and the first delivery was to be made in April 2019. The project was not signed in 2011, that was merely the letter of award, not the contract itself,” he said.

The Pekan MP said the project, which began while Barisan Nasional was in power and while he was still prime minister and finance minister, was halted by PH.

Najib said after PH won the election in 2018, the coalition delayed the project before ultimately freezing it in 2019.

Then in 2020 and 2021, the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, further affecting the delivery of the ships.

“So how can the ships be ready in time?” he asked.

He also said that the project has been investigated by PH multiple times and even a Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission investigation was launched, and yet now he was being blamed for it.

“Why am I being blamed for it when PH has investigated it so many times? I have also never been accused as a suspect nor have I been called before the PAC.”

Najib also dismissed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s suggestion to scrap the project.

“The construction of warships is a large complex project that takes a long period of time. Because of this, delays and cost increases can occur – especially when the costs of construction materials go up.

“So, the best way is to re-evaluate and control the cost and progress of the project more carefully, so that the ships can be built and delivered completely. This expertise must remain in the local industry so that the next ships are built more efficiently and maintenance costs can be kept low.

“Not to stop the project as suggested by Anwar and PH, or to make it political capital ahead of GE15.”

The RM9 billion littoral combat ships project awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) has been beleaguered with cost overruns and delays, without a single vessel delivered to date.

In a report, the PAC said the government’s due diligence on BNS had failed to detect the company’s financial weaknesses.

“As such, the government had to pay an upfront fee of RM1.36 billion to BNS, which is against government protocol,” said PAC in a statement.

“BNS’ poor financials were caused by abuse of power and mismanagement. As of 2018, BNS owed the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) company RM801 million and another RM956 million to banks.”

According to PAC, BNS had appointed two other companies to procure equipment from the OEM company, causing cost overruns.

The original schedule stated that five LCS should have been delivered to the ministry by this month.

PAC also said that the terms and conditions of the LCS contract was unfavourable to the government as payment for the project was based on development and item procurement instead of the actual construction progress of the ships. – August 6, 2022.