Lim says the PAC should summon the DPM to appear.
The PAC met for two days this past week over the RM1.607 billion contract for 12 Eurocopter EC725 Cougar military helicopters, calling several senior officials from the Defence and Finance ministries to provide answers. The inquiry continues next week and will question Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah who failed to turn up on Thursday.
"The Public Accounts Committee should summon Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to its Eurocopter hearing and not just call up civil servants as he was the Defence Minister at the time of the critical decision-making before the ministerial swap with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Sept 17," Lim said in a press statement today.
He questioned the decision not to call Najib, saying that the former Defence Minister would have been asked to appear if the PAC was headed by an opposition member. The current PAC chairman is Datuk Azmi Khalid, who used to be a minister.
"The PAC chairman Datuk Azmi Khalid should not be browbeaten or influenced by both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who had clearly hinted that the PAC should not create waves in its inquiry, as Abdullah has dismissed the three sets of different pricing for the Eurocopter deal given by the government as ‘academic’ while Najib has sought to ridicule the opposition for ‘making a meal’ of the Eurocopter procurement," Lim said.
He said the inquiry was not academic as it raised "very grave issues about propriety, accountability and professionalism in the decision-making process, whether at the technical, offset or price stages, especially when it is now established that the government had not conducted physical and specification inspections of the three shortlisted aircraft — the Cougar EC725, Sikorsky S92 and AgustaWestlands AW101."
"Najib should appear before the PAC fully armed to justify the procurement of the Eurocopters without any physical evaluation and test flights, citing previous instances in the Defence Ministry of such exemptions or even cases of other governments buying billion-ringgit aircraft without any test flight.
"Otherwise, how is Najib to rebut serious charges that the Defence Ministry had acted in a most irresponsible manner in the procurement process in trifling with the lives and safety of RMAF personnel who would have to use the new helicopters?" Lim asked.
He also slammed Abdullah for saying the price would be renegotiated again when the government finally buys the military helicopters, which are slated to replace the RMAF’s 28 ageing Nuri Sikorsky S-61A transport helicopters.
"The implication is very clear: the choice is still the Eurocopters! This makes all the preceding transactions in the helicopter tender, in particular on technical, offset and price, all very relevant, as well as warranting a full explanation from Najib as to why the government is ‘locked in’ to the Eurocopter offer in future instead of calling a completely new international tender open to all interested aircraft manufacturers," he said
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