DAP WANTS NAJIB TO EXPLAIN CHOPPER PURCHASE - malaysiakini

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Despite the billion-ringgit Eurocopter deal being called off last week, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today demanded that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) summon Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to explain the controversial purchase.

He also wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate other allegations of corruption against Najib, saying it was imperative now that political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda has been acquitted of abetment in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu. Allegations in the blogosphere have tried to link Najib to the murder but he has pleaded innocence to the charges.

"I reiterate my call during the debate on the 2009 Budget in Parliament for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate and clear Najib of all the allegations made against him so that he can take over as the sixth Prime Minster of Malaysia next March unencumbered by the weight of grave and serious allegations against him – whether locally or internationally," Lim said in a press statement today.

He also said if Najib was not prepared to answer to a Royal Commission of Inquiry, then the Deputy Prime Minister should "make a fulsome statement in Parliament on all these allegations when he speaks in the Dewan Rakyat for the first time as Finance Minister and Prime Minister-in-waiting on Tuesday (Nov 4) during the government reply on the 2009 Budget debate."

Lim earlier called for the PAC to summon Najib for questioning.
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 Badawi on Sept 17," Lim said.

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. -- MI