PETALING JAYA: The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project had reached 50% completion in 40 months since it began in January 2015, says Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
However, the former premier said the LCS project only achieved 5% completion in 17 months during the former Pakatan Harapan administration.
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In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Aug 9), Najib also criticised Pakatan for freezing the project in September 2019.
"Why did the progress levels (of the LCS project) only increase by 5% to 55% in 17 months from September 2019, when the project was frozen by the Pakatan government?" questioned the Pekan MP.
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Najib then asked if the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Defence Ministry could confirm his comments.
"Can anyone from the PAC or the Defence Ministry confirm this?" Najib questioned again.
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In another separate Facebook post, Najib attached an Oct 31, 2018, post by former deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong, who was praising the LCS project during a keel-laying ceremony.
"Pakatan's (former) deputy defence minister said he was proud.
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"He (Liew) said the project was given to Boustead for the construction of a ship that was designed and built entirely by locals for the first time, and it was able to develop the local defence industry.
"But now, he (Liew) forgot about it," said Najib.
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A keel-laying ceremony is the official recognition of the start of a ship's construction.
Umno supreme council member Isham Jalil has also questioned why Liew praised the project during his tenure as former deputy defence minister in October 2018.
"When he (Liew) was the deputy defence minister, he was proud to officiate the LCS project and he accepted the Gowind-type warship design.
"During then, they did not say the project was a waste of funds, needed to be axed or even rejected the Gowind design.
"But now, they are singing a different tune. This is Pakatan," said Isham.
Recently, Liew has been vocal on the LCS project scandal and on Tuesday (Aug 9) morning, he and former defence minister Mohamad Sabu denied Pakatan was silent about the LCS project when it was in power.
In a joint statement, Liew and Mohamad proposed the setting up of the governance, procurement and finance investigation committee, which investigated the LCS project scandal at the first Pakatan Cabinet meeting on May 30, 2018.
Mohamad and Liew had said the LCS project achieved progress at only 50.15% in January 2018 and it achieved a 56.39% completion in January 2020.
They both said the LCS project was supposed to have achieved an 82.41% completion by January 2020.
