Couple named in LCS report

Reports by RAGANANTHINI VETHASALAM, TARRENCE TAN, FATIMAH ZAINAL, ALIZA SHAH and MOHD FARHAAN SHAH

PETALING JAYA: A pair of husband and wife, Abdul Latiff Ahmad (pic) and Zainab Mohd Salleh, have been named as the individuals linked to Alizes Marine Ltd, a company which was flagged for suspicious transactions in a spare parts deal, said the declassified forensic report on the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal on the Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Berhad (BHIC).

The report mentioned more of Zainab’s role than Abdul Latiff’s. While the report was not specific, it is believed that the Abdul Latiff here referred to the former deputy defence minister.

Zainab was said to be the shareholder and director of Alizes Marine Ltd domiciled in Malta, and Intralogisitics Ltd registered in Labuan, which owns Alizes Marine Labuan and Sousmarin Armada Sdn Bhd.

“BHIC suspected serious irregularities in the procurement process of various spare parts by Boustead Penang Shipyard. This contract was awarded by Boustead DCNS Naval Corp Sdn Bhd.”

Most of the procurement was made through Alizes Marine, but there were few accounts in the name of Alizes Marine. These were created to impersonate Alizes Marine France so that payment could be channelled to a third party,” he added.

BDCNS is a joint venture between BHIC and DCNS, which was formed in 2009 for ship maintenance and allied services.

The report noted that Zainab appeared to be the common link in dubious transactions linked to a few firms.

The report said three companies, Setaria Holdings Ltd, Sousmarin Armada Ltd and JSD Corp Pte. Ltd were used to siphon millions of ringgit out of the country.

“It is important to mention that these three companies were used as a vehicle to siphon out millions of ringgit (more than RM23mil), and one of them had an identical name and was registered in Malaysia as Sousmarin Armada Sdn Bhd, which was dissolved somewhere in 2012,” it said.

“One of the directors was Zainab binti Mohd Salleh (Zainab), the same person involved with Alizes Marine, Alizes Marine Limited Malta and Alizes Marine Labuan,” it said.

The report said payment of RM8.26mil was linked to Sousmarin Armada Ltd. Sousmarin had a Paris address, but the payments were released in Singapore.

“The existence of the company could not be identified with the Registrar of Companies,” it said.

The forensic audit report on Boustead Heavy Industries Corp (BHIC) was declassified yesterday.