KOTA BARU, Nov 3 — The Defence Ministry (Mindef) will obtain the views and advice of the Attorney General (AG) before taking measures on the purchase of six helicopters valued at RM300 million by the previous administration.
Its Minister, Mohamad Sabu said the ministry would hold discussions with the Finance Ministry and Attorney General on the purchase of the helicopters which have yet to be delivered to date.
“We will be making a decision on the advice of the AG on why the helicopters have not arrived up to today.
“We will wait for the views of the AG and the ministry... on whether to take any actions,” he told reporters after the Presentation of Awards in Kelantan and Terengganu here today.
A few days ago, Mohamad Sabu was reported as saying that the government may need to go to court on the six helicopters purchased by the previous administration at more than RM300 million which have yet to be delivered.
He said if the helicopters were delivered and the armed forces refused to use them, discussions would have to be held with other ministries on its deployment.
The helicopters should have been delivered into two phases, which was two in July 2017 and four more by December 2018.
Commenting on the issue, Mohamad said the previous government had paid RM112 million, which was 35 per cent of the overall price but the helicopters which should have been delivered in November 2017, have not arrived.
“It is not that we do not want to take delivery of the helicopters, but the helicopters have not yet arrived until today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohamad said the 2019 Warriors Fund Campaign made a record collection when it is expected to surpass RM10 million soon.
He said this had not happened before and it proves the growing awareness of the people on the sacrifice of the armed forces.
“The ministry is targeting only about RM6 million, but with greater awareness, the collection exceeded RM10 million.
When speaking at ceremony, he thanked the government for approving a one-off payment of RM500 to 70,000 holders of the Malaysian Service Medal involving an allocation of RM35 million.
At the presentation ceremony, 512 Malaysian Armed Forces veterans received the medal.
Mohamad also presented the medal to 18 widows and 32 disabled veterans.
The ceremony was the 8th award presentation held this year involving 28,209 recipients nationwide. — Bernama
