BARISAN Nasional (BN), in particular Umno, is clearly rattled with the way Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd appeal is going and by the fallout of the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal, P. Ramasamy said today.

The Penang deputy chief minister said this is why BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is rushing for the general election to be called soon as delaying it any further would only hurt the coalition’s chances of winning.  

“I think if BN thinks that it might lose the election if it is held next year, then maybe they are telling the truth,” he said in a statement.

“It has dawned upon them with the possibility of former prime minister Najib Razak losing his appeal on the earlier conviction, the ground might not be in favour of Umno or BN.

“This is not to mention the LCS project that has literally been abandoned after the colossal loss of more than RM6 billion drawn from the coffers of the taxpayers’ fund.”

The DAP leader also said Zahid, who is facing corruption trials of his own, is fully aware of the impact of the LCS project on the ability of BN to win the next general election comfortably.

“One thing is for sure, the LCS fiasco is definitely going to drag down BN, principally its strongest component, Umno,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that the other component parties in BN might have to face the wrath of the electorate due to Umno leaders’ involvement in corruption and shady deals.”

He said Zahid also stands the chance of being prosecuted and convicted.

“Yet, with the heavy involvement of Umno leaders in corruption and financial mismanagement, they have the temerity to call an early GE15,” he said, referring to the next general election.

“The conviction of Najib might have a domino effect on other corrupted Umno leaders. All that is required is the fall of one leader for the domino to take effect.”

Najib’s appeal at the Federal Court has not gone according to his plans after the court rejected his new lawyer’s request for postponement as well as rejected his lead counsel’s application for withdrawal, forcing the lawyer to continue representing the former prime minister.

The defence is supposed to make its submissions on Tuesday but Najib’s legal team has said they will not be able to do so as they were unprepared.

In July 2020, Najib was convicted on seven charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million. His conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal on December 8 last year.

The appellate court also upheld his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine.

On August 4, the Public Accounts Committee revealed that its nine inquiry sessions into the LCS issue since November 18, 2020 found that not even a single LCS had been completed yet, although the contract awarded through direct negotiations stated that five ships should have been built and delivered by this month.

The contract for the supply of six LCSs by Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) became a hot issue after it was revealed that the project, scheduled for implementation in a 10-year period from October 3, 2013 to October 2, 2023, was only 53.29% completed as at May 31, 2019.

Based on a report by the Investigating Committee on Governance, Procurement and Finance, which was declassified on Wednesday, RM5.94 billion has been paid by the Defence Ministry to BNS for the project so far. – August 21, 2022.