Najib: Boustead was doing fine when I was PM

PETALING JAYA: Boustead Holdings, whose subsidiary is in the centre of the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal, was profitable when he was prime minister, claims Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Najib claimed Boustead, owned by the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), only started suffering significant losses after Barisan Nasional fell in the 2018 General Election (GE14).

Uploading a graph of Boustead’s 2009-2017 net profit onto his Facebook post, he asked: “What did Pakatan Harapan (PH) do during the 22 months they were in power even if it is true that the LCS project was stopped in April 2018?”

“The project was stopped for 22 months, and (they) waited for two years to make it an issue in 2022 by asking where is the ship?” he said.

“If they want to make a propaganda of lies, they need to use the brain (sic),” he added.

He said that since Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) failed to pay, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) had to stop work.

“BNS’ financial situation was confirmed as weak and critical due to power abuse and financial mismanagement,” he said.

“When did they stop their work? April 2018. PH won the election in May 2018,” the Muar MP pointed out.

Najib, however, posted screenshots of former Pakatan Harapan defence minister Mohamad Sabu’s tweet from 2019 when he visited the BNS Shipyard in Lumut, Perak, to inspect the LCS project.

Najib asked Mohamad and his then deputy Liew Chin Tong what they were doing visiting the site in 2018 and 2019 if the project had been stopped in April 2018.

He said the PH government could have resolved the problem immediately, and Boustead, an important asset of LTAT, could have been saved.