KUALA LUMPUR: PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has claimed that a French naval vessel maker was privy to negotiations in the government's bid to develop and procure the Royal Malaysian Navy's (RMN) six littoral combat ships (LCS), even before the Defence Ministry had appointed Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) as the main contractor.
Rafizi, who had previously declared he would reveal details of the matter, said yesterday he was in possession of three documents comprising two quotations from DCNS dated Dec 23, 2010 and April 4, 2011, and a Letter of Intent from DCNS dated Oct 21, 2011.
He said the dates of the quotations from DCNS, as a subcontractor in the RM6 billion project, were key in the timeline.
He said this was because the letter of award to BNS from the government, via the ministry, was issued only on Dec 16, 2011.
Rafizi claimed that an internal probe by BNS's parent company, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp, had found that it was "unusual" for DCNS to issue a quotation on Dec 23, 2010 before the letter of award was inked between BNS and the ministry.
He claimed what led to the delay in the LCS project was the design change from Sigma — agreed to by the RMN — to Gowind, which was approved by the then defence minister.
He said the change of ship design from Sigma to Gowind was investigated by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, which found that former defence minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had on May 26, 2011, agreed with the RMN's choice of the Sigma design.
"However, two months later, on July 11, 2011, the defence minister changed his decision and agreed with the proposal by BNS, the main LCS contractor, to change the design to Gowind.
"RMN chose Sigma for its needs and wants to defend the country because it is better and more modern than Gowind. When Zahid changed the design to Gowind, this meant that the naval defence ability did not meet the wants and plans of the RMN.
"More importantly, the designs of Sigma and Gowind involve different subcontractors. If Sigma is chosen, it requires shipbuilding expertise from the Dutch, while the Gowind design needs expertise from the French.
"There are parties of interest who wanted the subcontractor from France to be chosen to supply the design and build the LCS although the RMN's decision was to have the Sigma."
Rafizi said it was impossible for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to disassociate himself from the LCS project.