BARISAN Nasional must be accountable for the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal for which it is responsible, Pakatan Harapan lawmakers said today.

They said BN must not be allowed to pretend that it has nothing to do with the entire affair when its leaders were in the cabinet at the time the project was approved and undertaken.

They urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to summon parliament for a special sitting to discuss the LCS fiasco.

The opposition has announced it will lodge police reports over the non-delivery of the ships for which RM6 billion has been paid.

“BN should at least be honest about this and while the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested several people, nobody has been charged yet,” Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said in a statement today.

The newly elected PKR vice-president was responding to the Public Accounts Committee’s report on the LCS acquisition.

He said the scandal is not just embarrassing but will jeopardise the navy’s ability to defend the country.

Nik Nazmi said the government might have promised transparent investigation into the issue, past experience has shown that the key political figures involved in such exploits usually go unpunished.

He said it is always the minions who take the fall.

The navy has yet to take delivery of its first vessel 10 years after the government paid RM6 billion for six littoral combat ships to the Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, the largest shareholder of which is Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera with a 61% stake.

In a separate statement today, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim also called on the prime minister  to summon parliament for a special sitting to debate the LCS contract.

Apart from the delay in delivery, Sim said the lawmakers should also talk about the Defence Ministry’s decision to choose a different design for the vessels contrary the navy’s wishes, as well as possible misconduct by the Umno-led BN government from 2011 to 2018.

“I urge the prime minister not to defend his friends in his party and to think of the importance of calling for a special parliament sitting to discuss the LCS scandal transparently and openly,” Sim said.

DAP youth also issued a statement calling for the police to be notified of the affair. It said it will be filing a report with the cops.

“We encourage fellow Malaysians to do the same as this not only wasted billions of public funds, but more importantly, jeopardised and compromised the safety and security of our country,” DAP Youth chief Kelvin Yii said in a statement.

“We urge the authorities to take this matter seriously and investigate all those involved including Najib, Zahid, Hishammuddin, and other leaders,” said Yii, referring to the former prime and defence ministers. – August 9, 2022.