This scandal is definately underrated

by Independant Daily


As the country of late is ridled by scandal after scandal it is quite interesting to see the reaction of the public to the latest scandal that has went almost unmentioned.

I mentioned this in one of my earlier blogs: Auditor General: RM1.4b for patrol vessels unjustified. In fact, when i saw it i felt well, RM1.4b is nothing compared to the PKFZ scandal but if you look close enough it actually is equally bad.

From Malaysia Today, i understand the true devastation this scandal is. Let me break it up for you but you should also see the story from Malaysia Today.

The original contract price, RM5.35 billion for 6 patrol vassel for the Royal Malaysian Navy. Meant to be delivered starting from March 2004 over a period of 3 years ending April 2007.

The current situation, 2 vessels delivered with 44 incompleted items (Its like a buying a car that moves but with 44 things like radio, speedometer, fuel meter, seat belt, etc, etc not fitted in or not working la) with a total paid sum of RM4.26 billion.

What has happened? Another fruther total of RM1.4 billion is approved for Penang Shipbuilding & Construction Sdn Bhd-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd, the company contracted to built these vassels, have been approved by the government. The remaining 4 vessels are between 18.5% and 55.9% completion.

Penang Shipbuilding & Construction Sdn Bhd-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd is owned by Amin Shah Omar Shah a once UMNO guy.

Assuming an all time low of 1% bank interest per annum for RM6.75 billion for 10 years, we would have lost an additional RM675 million. Adding that to the RM6.75 billion, these 6 vessels would cost approximately RM1.2 billion each, inflated from an average cost of RM800 million each which i think was already inflated to begin with.

There you go Malaysians, this is what you pay taxes for. RM1.2billion for a fishing boat that doesn't even work properly.