THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold a new hearing on the littoral combat ships (LCSs) project in the second Dewan Rakyat session starting Monday, its new chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said.

In a statement, Mas Ermieyati said the proposed proceedings will begin as soon as the Dewan Rakyat approves the appointment of the new PAC members. 

“As soon as the new members are approved, I will call the first PAC meeting with its first agenda on new proceedings for the latest development on the LCSs.

“I am aware the previous committee presented a procurement report on August 4 last year. The Defence Ministry (Mindef) secretary-general subsequently gave a response to the committee on its seven recommendations on October 5.

“One of PAC’s recommendations in the consent report clearly states that Mindef needs to present a progress report on the construction of LCSs to the committee every three month.s. 

“To this end, I will suggest that every time the progress report is presented to PAC, we will issue a new report to be presented to parliament,” the Masjid Tanah MP said. 

The LCSs project, the largest defence procurement in Malaysia’s history with a total cost of RM9 billion, came under intense scrutiny last year after the PAC revealed not a single ship had been completed although Putrajaya had already paid out RM6.08 billion.

The PAC also revealed that some government allocation for the multi-billion-ringgit project was used for other purposes, including cost overruns.

This was among some of the findings contained in the bi-partisan committee’s 250-page report, which was tabled in Dewan Rakyat. 

Mas Ermieyati added that all former PAC officials have agreed to work closely to guarantee its credibility and transparency.

“I have also given an explanation to all ex-PAC officials regarding some improvements that will be made in the next parliamentary session, especially on the Comptroller/Secretary General’s Follow-up Action Report on the Recommendation of the PAC Report,” the Bersatu MP added. – May 19, 2023.