THE cabinet today agreed in principle that the littoral combat ship (LCS) project forensic audit report be made public, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

However, he said it would be made after discussions with Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and other stakeholders on the mechanism of disclosure as there are sensitive issues which cannot be made public.

In a media conference after the Merdeka Month Celebration of the Legal Affairs Division in Putrajaya, today, Wan Junaidi said he is of the view that sensitive matters involving security should not be revealed.

“In principle, ministers still emphasise that the disclosure will be made. I am of the opinion that sensitive things, security issues should not be disclosed,” he said, adding that this is also a practice in the United States and England, where sensitive issues are not be made public for security reasons.

Earlier, the cabinet had proposed that the LCS project forensic audit report conducted in 2019 be declassified, but input from the attorney-general and the auditor-general are needed.

Wan Junaidi also did not rule out the possibility that the government would establish a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate the LCS matter.

“Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier (at the cabinet meeting) mentioned one more thing (about the RCI). So it means that the question (the RCI) has not been written off, even though it is considered that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has done its best,” he said.

Hishammuddin, when winding up the debate on the motion related to the LCS issue at Dewan Negara yesterday, gave his assurance that he would personally bring the LCS RCI proposal to get the cabinet’s approval today.

Hishammuddin said this in response to several senators who urged the government to establish an RCI to investigate the LCS issue to examine all aspects so that no guilty party escapes prosecution.

Wan Junaidi said MACC still needs to update the investigation papers relating to the case before it is returned to the Attorney General’s Chambers for a decision so that other individuals may be prosecuted.

“However, there was a discussion in the cabinet earlier and its decision was open-ended. The MACC investigation will continue and the cabinet reiterates that it will not protect anyone in the LCS issue,” he said.

The Public Accounts Committee previously revealed nine proceedings related to the LCS issue starting on November 18, 2020 and found that not a single LCS had been completed even though the contract for the project indicated that five ships should be completed and delivered as of August 2022. – Bernama, August 17, 2022.