SHAH ALAM: The Star newspaper is reporting that the MACC – the nation graft buster – was on the verge of pressing charges against several individuals over the LCS case. It quoted the MACC Commissioner TS Azam Baki as saying that the they were recommending charges against several individuals.

From The Star

PUTRAJAYA: Anti-graft investigators are convinced that they have enough evidence to bring about charges against several individuals involved in the multibillion-ringgit Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) scandal.

Those in the know describe the case as “complex”, but the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is confident that the charges can be pressed once the on-going investigation has been completed.

Confirming this, Tan Sri Azam Baki said a report had been submitted to the legal department to decide on the next course of action.

“We have completed investigation on some parts of the case and are proposing charges against the suspects,” the MACC chief commissioner told The Star.

Unfortunately, the Star editors blew the scoop as it had used a picture of a US Navy LCS to illustrate the story (see picture above). I tweeted about the mistake but as of now, they have not spotted the mistake. Anyhow, from reading the story I am pretty sure that the investigations were mostly about revelations regarding the LCS first reported in 2012/2013.

If this is correct, I am not sure whether the charges to be prefer are actually related to the LCS multi-billion ringgit scandal. Of course, the LCS project has a ceiling price of RM9 billion but if the charges were related to the 2012/2013 issues, it does not reached into billions of ringgit. Furthermore in the story, the Star quoted the MACC commissioner as saying that one of the charges might relate to a criminal breach of trust amounting to RM24 million. Again, nothing reaching multi-billion ringgit. Yes, any sen lost should be accounted for but claiming it to be multi-billion ringgit scandal is a bit too much.

–Malaysian Defence

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