PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Youth wing has called for an investigation into former prime minister Najib Razak, former defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and current defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein over the delay in a navy warship project.
At the same time, DAP Youth said a string of police reports would be made against those involved in the RM9 billion littoral combat ship (LCS) project. Youth wing leader Dr Kelvin Yii urged the public to do the same.
Saying “heads must indeed roll” for the procurement fiasco, he said high-ranking ministers who had direct and indirect decision-making power in the project should face investigation.
The project calls for the construction of six frigates in the LCS programme. The first in the class, KD Maharaja Lela, was launched in 2017. However, none of the six ships, scheduled for delivery between 2019 and this year, have been delivered.
“We urge the authorities to take this matter seriously and investigate all those involved including Najib, Zahid, Hishammuddin, and other leaders,” said Yii.
He alleged that the government was not taking the issue seriously and did not intend to be accountable, going by what he called the “defeaning silence” of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on the matter.
The project has come under criticism from the parliamentary watchdog Public Accounts Committee which said on Thursday that the government had ignored the navy’s views on the contract.
It said an initial design chosen by the navy and approved by the defence ministry had been changed to the French-designed Gowind vessels at the recommendation of Boustead Naval Shipyard to then defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Hishammuddin said earlier today that the first LCS will be completed in “at least a year or two”. He said his ministry will ensure that the project will be completed at the set time.
