> Decision on copter deal not unanimous

After several meetings stretched out over the past one week, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has cleared the federal government of scandal into the RM1.6 billion Eurocopter military deal.

However, the decision was not unanimous as some of its members felt that officials from the Defence Ministry had failed to address several key questions, notably what made the Eurocopter EC725 Cougar the preferred choice to replace the Royal Malaysian Air Force's 42-year-old fleet of Nuri helicopters.

Attempts to obtain detailed explanations from the ministry's top officials who were present at today's inquiry session were thwarted.

The questions had been submitted beforehand, but apparently the military top brass had chosen to ignore the queries or had responded merely that they were confidential military information and could not as such be disclosed.

Seven helicopter manufacturers had made a bid for the RMAF tender, which was to equip the Defence Ministry with air craft for search-and rescue missions primarily, and which could later on be used for military combat missions.

Three made it to the final list but the Defence Ministry selected the Eurocopter which cost RM1.604 billion for 12 units. The other two packages cost RM1.262 billion and RM2.442 billion respectively.

The Malaysian Insider understands that while the Defence Ministry had abided by the regulations in the tender procedure, it had not followed the standard norms in calling up each of the helicopter manufacturers to clarify the details of their tender.

"Our concern is that this deal, to put it in a way, is made for Eurocopter. None of the tenderers were called in for tender clarification of the tender document during the entire tender process," noted a horrified PAC member.

"It does not answer the big question," he added, referring to the advantages Eurocopter possessed over the other bidders.

Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid however concluded today that he was satisfied that there had been no misappropriation of funds into the federal government's procurement in the Eurocopter deal.

"PAC's responsibility is to see if procedure was followed. In the evaluation process, we found that the procedure has been followed," Azmi told reporters after wrapping up the meeting with officials from theDefence and Finance Ministries in Parliament this evening.

He added that the only aspect of the deal found to be dissatisfactory was the fact that no physical examination or flight test had been carried out specifically for this tender.

Queried if PAC found elements of financial misappropriation due to the glaring difference in the Eurocopter package price for Malaysia and Brazil, Azmi said: "The PAC does not determine what is the right price.'

He explained that PAC was not in a position to say which was the correct price or better deal as the requirements for military procurements differed from country to country.

Asked if PAC had inquired the reasons behind the hasty decision to sign the deal a mere two days before Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was the Defence Minister swapped portfolios with Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, Azmi replied that the committee had not asked those questions nor did it address the issue.

When pressed about the issue of commissions from the helicopter deal, Azmi said that it was not the committee's responsibility to inquire about that aspect. But he smiled and hinted that in any business, people would try to make good deals.

Asked if PAC considered its inquiry into the Eurocopter case closed, Azmi hesitated before saying that PAC would continue to "monitor" its development "but for how far, we cannot say".

Azmi added that the PAC proposed for the Defence Ministry to conduct a proper physical evaluation on the air craft before the delivery if they decided to go ahead with the procurement, which is now deferred.

He also submitted that PAC would recommend that an independent review panel be set up to scrutinise all extravagant government purchases in the future. However, he said he left it to the government to determine the amount it would consider to be "extravagant".

The latter recommendation was met with disdain by some of Azmi's colleagues. They observed that the PAC was there to fulfil that role - The Malaysian Insider.