KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the stakeholders will study the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project that was released Thursday afternoon.
Senior Minister of Defence, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said, the Ministry had given full cooperation and consistently transparent at proceedings and investigation sessions carried out by PAC.
“My early reaction on the LCS report was that MINDEF and the stakeholders will study carefully and consider all proposals forwarded by PAC to continue the LCS project.
“As being announced last April, the Cabinet had agreed the LCS Project Recovery Plan had allowed the mobilisation period be implemented for six months to enable negotiations with OEM and the vendor and then finalise the LCS forward acquisition as required by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).
“The government has also established a Special Governance Committee that is chaired by the Chief Secretary of Treasury, Ministry of Finance (MOF) and also the Chief Secretary of MINDEF.
“The duty of this committee is to monitor closely especially the mobilisation process in six months and report its development to the Cabinet,” Hishmmuddin said in a statement today.
Referring to the weakness and the diversion activities, Hishammuddin said, he is consistent in stressing that whoever is at fault will remain at fault. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is still investigating and this means the party involved in any wrong doings in the project earlier will not be released easily.
Hishammuddin added, PAC had proposed MACC to speed up the investigation and charge those involved the soonest. Whoever is at fault will be charged in the courts.
“Most importantly now is to move forward to ensure the LCS project could be continued smoothly. LCS is an important asset that is very much needed for the safety of the national waters in line with the Armada Transformation Programme 15 to 5 and also for the interests of RMN,” Hishammuddin said. –Malaysia World News
