The two men who called the shots

In the spotlight: Ramli and Anuar were two key figures named extensively in the declassified forensic audit report on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor and Anuar Murad were two key figures named extensively in the declassified forensic audit report by the Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Berhad (BHIC) on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

The BHIC report said they were the ones who issued letters of award (LOAs) and variation orders (VOs) without getting the views of the technical and commercial teams, nor the LCS steering committee (LCSSC).

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report that came out on Aug 4 on the multibillion-ringgit project had also repeatedly mentioned Ahmad Ramli, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) managing director at that time, and Anuar, the LCS programme director.

As a result, these procurement-related decisions were made without any discussion, deliberations or queries, which had a significant bearing on the project’s overall cost, said the BHIC report.

The report said that the then programme director of LCS, Anuar, took advantage of the situation with the support of his superior, Ramli, “by making arbitrary decisions, disregarding the norms of governance while issuing various LOAs and VOs”.

Former technical and commercial team members said they were not involved in evaluating the LOAs issued to project subcontractors Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd (CAD) and Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd (CED) for major components of the LCS project.

“As a result, the prices charged by CAD/CED were never cross-verified to assess the quantum of margins made,” said the BHIC report.

Former BHIC chairman Tan Sri Ramlan Mohamed Ali said Anuar had also determined the composition of the evaluation team.

“In our opinion, this reduced the independence while evaluating various proposals,” said the report.

According to the report, Anuar would also inform the LCSSC about various essential decisions only after he and Ramli had already made these decisions.

At least 10 LOAs that favoured CAD/CED were not presented to LCSSC for approval.

“This might be because the board of BNS had delegated sweeping authority to Ramli to negotiate the terms and execute various contracts with CAD without getting approval from the board before signing the LOAs/VOs,” said the report.

Ramlan said that despite the advancement of the LCS programme, the frequency of the LCSSC meeting became fewer over the years.

The committee did not discharge its responsibilities by analysing and discussing in detail various components of the project during the review of the LCSSC minutes, the report pointed out.

The committee was simply informed on various matters about the LOAs by Anuar.

It was noted both men were directors of CAD, while Anuar was the director of CED at the time of signing the LOAs.

“This is against the basic governance as there was an apparent conflict of interest.

“It was unusual to note that various LOAs and VOs to CAD/CED were issued with Ramli and Anuar’s signatures, who approved the work description, the progress of work, and the payment request.

“Various procurement phases through CAD confirmed only Ramli and Anuar were the officers involved.

“As a result, both had complete control of most of the phases of the procurement cycle, a major sign of the lack of governance and autocratic mode of operation,” said the report.