The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today decided to disccuss the controversy surrounding the tender process for the procurement of new helicopters for the armed forces at its next meeting.
Committee chairperson, Padang Besar MP Azmi Khalid said the meeting is needed to inform the public of the real situation.
Asked if Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who has been implicated in the controversy would be called in during the meeting, Azmi replied: "Let's not jump the gun."
Apart from the helicopter deal, the upcoming meeting will also look into the high-speed broadband contracts that were awarded to Telekom Malaysia as well as Maybank’s acquisition of a 56 percent stake in bank Internasional Indonesia, a financially struggling bank, with a discounted price of RM4.26 billion.
"The committee will keep having discussions for us to come up with better measures to curb the situations," he said, adding that the meeting however will not involve any investigation.
Today’s meeting which was held in the Parliament building also discussed the introduction of the use of bio-metric system to handle the issue of illegal immigrants in the country.
No date has been fixed for the next meeting - Malaysiakini.com
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Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he will meet with Defence Ministry secretary-general Abu Bakar Abdullah this afternoon to seek clarification on the helicopter deal controversy.
"I will meet with him today to discuss about this and then I will let you know," Abdullah, who is also defence minister, told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The issue was first highlighted in a letter dated Oc 7 addressed to former defence minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also deputy prime minister and finance minister.
In the five-page letter, Mentari Services Sdn Bhd chairperson Capt (rtd) Zahar Hashim suggested that the tender process, initiated during Najib's tenure, could have been a "gimmick" since the ministry appeared to favour one particular company.
Zahar also accused Najib of providing the prime minister, who took over the defence portfolio on Sept 17, with an 'inaccurate' report pertaining to the contract.
Among others, he stated that the government could have purchased the same number of helicopters, from a firm which he represented, and save almost RM1.5 billion - malaysiakini.com
Anyone else smell something funny?
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I have been trying to get some figures or deals that other countries have made with Eurocopter for a comparison. I couldn't get anything direct but the following report of June 2008 where Brazil has signed a deal with Eurocopter is very interesting and makes the Malaysian deal look terribly expensive and a bad deal. Somehow, our leaders lack the vision or maybe that is not their interest. I reproduce part of the article from http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/ Brazil-Signs-1B-Production-Deal-for- Cougar-Helicopters-04959/
Quote" June 30/08: Brazil and France sign an agreement in principle for Eurocopter to build helicopters in the South American country via its subsidiary Helibras. Brazil’s Defense Minister Nelson Jobim reportedly said that the country intended to buy 50 “Super Cougar” models, the first of which would be delivered in 2010. The deal’s value is reportedly around $1.2 billion.
Under the agreement in principle, France would transfer technology and help Brazil expand the export capacity of its aviation industry by aiding the assembly of helicopter components such as engines and electrical systems. Eurocopter will also invest $300-400 million in Helibras Minas de Gerais plant in central Brazil, in order to prepare it for production.
Both countries are expected to also sign a broader strategic defense alliance in December, whose terms could have some influence on Brazil’s choice of fighter for its F-X2 competition." Unquote
What a great deal for USD1.2 billion with technology transfer and all. Take a look at the statement from Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as follows
Quote" This plant will produce the aircraft that will serve our Armed Forces and strategic sectors of our economy, such as oil exploration on off-shore platforms," Unquote
What a vision, instead of sending our legislators to Taiwan to move backwards to learn agriculture, it may be wiser to send them to Brazil to learn about negotiating good deals and having a vision for the future of Malaysia.
Will we ever learn or it is not in our interest to do so. Keep us stupid and backward so that bad and biased decisions bt the powers that be remains unchecked. BN should know by now that that time is running out fast.
Maybe someone can further analyse this and add more to the above.
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