Buy subs for RM8b, then torpedo subsidies
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Free Malaysia Today
KUALA LUMPUR: While voters have been spooked by the prospect of bankruptcy if subsidies remain, the government however went on a RM8 billion shopping spree for two French submarines.
The disclosure was made by Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a written reply to Batu PKR MP Tian Chua who asked how much it cost to procure the Scorpene submarines.
The first contract with French and Spanish manufacturers DNC and Navantia on the purchase of the two submarines including the Intergrated Logistic Support (ILS) was worth €970 million.
The second contract with Perimekar Sdn Bhd for coordination, support and training for the Royal Malaysian Navy submarine project in Cherborough and Brest in France and Cartagena, Spain, was worth €120 million.
Perimekar is allegedly owned by the wife of Abdul Razak Baginda, a close friend of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who was tried and acquitted in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaaribuu.
Altantuya was supposedly the interpreter in the deal and Najib was the defence minister then.
