Jumaat, 6 Mac 2009
By Wong Choon Mei
Malaysia’s deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak, already in the doghouse over allegations of involvement in a high-profile commission and murder case, received another bashing from lawmakers who demanded to know why he lavished billions on arms and high-tech submarines at a time when money was sorely needed to boost the economy.
Said Tian Chua, Member of Parliament for Batu: “”RM7 billion was channelled into the first stimulus package to revitalise our slumping economy while a staggering RM8 billion was spent on arms alone last year and the majority of those arms deals were made with foreign firms.
“Whose economy are we really trying to stimulate?”
Due to succeed Prime Mninister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 1, Najib has been dogged by allegations of graft for much of his three-decades-long political career.
A two-term defense minister before assuming the finance ministry in September last year, he hit the international headlines just days ago when French newspaper Liberation published a report alleging that his close aide Razak Baginda had acted as his intermediary in a one billion euros (RM4.7 billion) submarine deal.
According to the Liberation, European shipbuilder Armaris paid a commission of 114 million euros to a Razak-controlled company in October 2006. This was the payment that catalysed the string of events that led to the ruthless and gory murder of a Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Believed to have been a go-between in the Scorpene deal, the 28-year old was also rumoured to have been both Najib and Razak’s lover. Najib has repeatedly denied allegations linking him with Altantuya, but Razak has admitted she was at one time his mistress.Growing penchant for murky direct deals rather than open tenders
Shocked by figures released by the defense ministry, Tian condemned the sharp rise in arms deals negotiated directly versus open tenders.
The proportion of defense contracts distributed through direct negotiations had soared from 31 percent of total value of transactions in 2006 to 54 percent in 2008.
“But despite the massive amount of public funds spent on defense, the ministry has failed to divulge the details of the negotiation processes,” Tian said.
“In terms of number of contracts, defense deals distributed through direct negotiations rose from 52 in 2006 to 100 in 2008 or from 8.5 percent of total number of contracts to 21 percent.”
“At first sight, this seems to be a controllable trend. However, if you look closely at the real value of contracts given out through direct negotiation, you will realise that there has been a very drastic increase from RM2.113 billion to RM4.392 billion.”
In reply, the ministry insisted that processes for direct negotiations had to stay confidential for security reasons. It declined to provide further details.
Malaysia’s deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak, already in the doghouse over allegations of involvement in a high-profile commission and murder case, received another bashing from lawmakers who demanded to know why he lavished billions on arms and high-tech submarines at a time when money was sorely needed to boost the economy.
Said Tian Chua, Member of Parliament for Batu: “”RM7 billion was channelled into the first stimulus package to revitalise our slumping economy while a staggering RM8 billion was spent on arms alone last year and the majority of those arms deals were made with foreign firms.
“Whose economy are we really trying to stimulate?”
Due to succeed Prime Mninister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 1, Najib has been dogged by allegations of graft for much of his three-decades-long political career.
A two-term defense minister before assuming the finance ministry in September last year, he hit the international headlines just days ago when French newspaper Liberation published a report alleging that his close aide Razak Baginda had acted as his intermediary in a one billion euros (RM4.7 billion) submarine deal.
According to the Liberation, European shipbuilder Armaris paid a commission of 114 million euros to a Razak-controlled company in October 2006. This was the payment that catalysed the string of events that led to the ruthless and gory murder of a Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Believed to have been a go-between in the Scorpene deal, the 28-year old was also rumoured to have been both Najib and Razak’s lover. Najib has repeatedly denied allegations linking him with Altantuya, but Razak has admitted she was at one time his mistress.Growing penchant for murky direct deals rather than open tenders
Shocked by figures released by the defense ministry, Tian condemned the sharp rise in arms deals negotiated directly versus open tenders.
The proportion of defense contracts distributed through direct negotiations had soared from 31 percent of total value of transactions in 2006 to 54 percent in 2008.
“But despite the massive amount of public funds spent on defense, the ministry has failed to divulge the details of the negotiation processes,” Tian said.
“In terms of number of contracts, defense deals distributed through direct negotiations rose from 52 in 2006 to 100 in 2008 or from 8.5 percent of total number of contracts to 21 percent.”
“At first sight, this seems to be a controllable trend. However, if you look closely at the real value of contracts given out through direct negotiation, you will realise that there has been a very drastic increase from RM2.113 billion to RM4.392 billion.”
In reply, the ministry insisted that processes for direct negotiations had to stay confidential for security reasons. It declined to provide further details.
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