Najib says he is waiting for Rafizi's explanation on LCS sub-contractors owners

SHAH ALAM - Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak has asked PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli to provide an explanation regarding the owners of two sub-contractors involved in the littoral combat ship (LCS) construction project.

This was after Rafizi alleged that Najib, who is also the former prime minister, was involved in the project through a subcontractor company from France, DCNS or now known as Naval Group.

"It has been more than 24 hours.

“When are you going to explain who are the owners of the sub-contractors Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd (CAD) and Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd (CED) that you mentioned yesterday? Why don’t you just be honest,” Najib wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Rafizi on Tuesday claimed that there was a preliminary plan in the LCS project to hide the involvement of DCNS, a company often linked to Najib.

The former Pandan MP said DCNS had used three layers of companies for the construction project of the six warships which caused the cost to increase three times.

Rafiz said if DCNS was the main supplier of expertise, design and construction of the LCS ships, the Malaysian government should appoint DCNS directly like it did with the Scorpene submarine project.

However, Rafizi said the government instead appointed Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) as the main contractor which then appointed another company as a subcontractor.

According to Rafizi’s revelation on the issue, he said the CAD which was appointed as a subcontractor by BNS, had appointed CED in 2012 as a contractor which then issued a letter of appointment (LOA) to DCNS to supply works in two packages related to supply and construction amounting to RM1.185 billion.

Najib through a post on his Facebook on the same day, then questioned whether Rafizi had made accusations that as the prime minister when the project started, Najib had colluded with the two subcontractors involved.

Najib said the two companies were joint venture entities of Boustead's subsidiary Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC) and the German company Rheinmetall Air Defense AG.

He said the managing director of BHIC and the committee chairman of the LCS project at the time was former Navy Commander Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor.

According to Najib, he has no problem if an investigation was carried out against the contractor involved as he has nothing to do with the entity.