PAC chief accuses daily of jeopardising LCS investigations with article, seeks direction for next move from Dewan Rakyat Speaker

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin has accused Malay newspaper Utusan Malaysia of jeopardising its ongoing scrutiny into the littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal with an article on the topic published earlier today.

The Masjid Tanah MP added that is seeking direction from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul on what to do next about the article titled “Kurangkan kapal LCS jimat kos – Saksi” (Reduce LCS to save cost – Witness).

“The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) takes a serious view of the Utusan Malaysia article dated 12 June 2023 titled ‘Kurangkan kapal LCS jimat kos – Saksi’ that stated the government has decided to reduce the number of littoral combat ships (LCS) to be built from six to five on grounds of saving cost.

“I regret this article because it clearly can disturb PAC’s investigations, summary and recommendations for this proceeding,” Mas Ermieyati said in a statement this afternoon.

She alleged that the article violates Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 85 that relates to premature publication of evidence.

“I have written a letter to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari bin Abdul to inform him of the SO 85 violation and request guidance on this issue,” she added.

SO 85, which deals with the premature publication of evidence, states that “the evidence taken before any Select Committee and any documents presented to such Committee shall not be published by any member of such Committee, or by any other person, before the Committee has presented its Report to the House”.

The PAC chief said the committee holds weekly news conferences every Thursday when the Dewan Rakyat sits to provide current information of its proceedings.

She advised everyone, especially mass media personnel to respect the PAC’s investigation proceedings and to get official statements directly.

According to the Utusan Malaysia article published today, the government had made the decision to build only five out of the planned six LCS in order to save on costs, based on what three witnesses had told an unnamed source.

Last Saturday, national news agency Bernama reported Mas Ermieyati as saying that three witnesses had testified to PAC during its excursion to the Boustead Naval Shipyard in the Lumut Naval Base in Perak.

The LCS project is said to be the largest defence procurement in Malaysia’s history with a total cost of RM9 billion.

The project to build six armed vessels capable of near-shore fighting reportedly began in 2013 and is supposed to be completed and delivered to the navy by end of this year.

Last year, PAC released a report on August 8 that found the government had already paid RM6.083 billion to the contractor BNS, with not a single vessel delivered despite cost overruns of RM1.4005 billion.