AHMAD Zahid Hamidi must bear the responsibility for the RM9 billion littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal as he was the defence minister at the time of their purchase, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

“If there is any person who must bear responsibility for the scandal, that person must be Zahid and no one else,” the Iskandar Puteri lawmaker said in a statement.

“Zahid is foolish to deny that he was responsible for the scandal,”

The DAP leader said this in response to Zahid who had said that he was not the defence minister at the time the contract was awarded.

The Umno president said he was defence minister from April 2009 to May 2013. 

Zahid said he should not be blamed for the problems plaguing the project after the contract was awarded in 2014, a year after he left the defence office.

Lim said Zahid had approved the procurement of six LCS in early 2011 following a request from the navy.

He added this was why Zahid was called up by the Public Accounts Committee in October 2021 to explain himself.

Lim said that on May 26, 2011, Zahid approved six LCS which were Sigma in design as recommended by the navy, but on July 11, 2011, he agreed with the contractor Boustead Naval Shipyard to change the Sigma LCS to GOWIND LCS without consulting the navy. 

“Can Zahid explain why?” said Lim.

Lim said that the LCS scandal would have remained unnoticed if Barisan National had won the general election in 2018.

On Thursday, PAC disclosed the findings of its investigation into the acquisition. It revealed that not a single ship had been delivered after the government paid the maker RM6 billion.

According to the original schedule, five LCS should have been delivered by this month. – August 7, 2022.