Defence ministry to set up investment committee for asset procurement

The defence ministry plans to form a defence investment committee as part of efforts to prevent and avoid irregularities in its procurement of assets.

Deputy Defence Minister Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz said the setting up of the committee was among the recommendations in the Defence White Paper.

"This committee will decide on policies and make decisions relating to asset procurement, especially high-value strategic assets that require decisions to be made collectively, apart from taking into account the needs of the Malaysian Armed Forces," he during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PAS-Pasir Mas) on whether the ministry had updated its procedure in awarding construction contracts following the issue of the littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

To a supplementary question from  Fadhli on the deadline for the construction of LCS 1, Ikmal said 94% of the detailed design for the ship had been completed by the contractor, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS).

"On the detailed design, it is being negotiated by BNS with Naval Group from France. This is important to ensure that what is decided later will meet the needs of the Royal Malaysian Navy as the end user.

"The Naval Group has also decided that its technical team will conduct an audit of the detailed design this month," he said.