He said the matter should not be taken lightly because the much-delayed project involves a large amount of funds, and must be answered on the basis of transparency.

He urged the defence minister to explain the loss that would be suffered by the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), a shareholder in the RM9 billion project, by the government’s decision to proceed with the project.

The Cabinet decided two days ago to proceed with the LCS project to procure six ships, which began in 2011. However, not a single ship has been delivered.

Defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the decision was made after taking into consideration two key factors, namely the ships, based on a French-designed Gowind corvette, were much needed by the navy.

He said 400 vendors were involved in the project, with a financial implication of over RM4 billion.

Yesterday former defence minister Mohamad Sabu and former deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong said a special investigation headed by the auditor-general found that only RM5.94 billion had been disbursed, of which at least RM1 billion was unaccounted for.

The contractor for the LCS project, Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Bhd (BHIC), said today it is committed to ensuring the delivery of the warships by abiding to all requirements of a special monitoring committee.

The ships are being built by its associate company Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd.

The Cabinet has set a six-month mobilisation period to restart the project.

BHIC said it is ready to mobilise its team working on the project which will then provide frequent reports on the progress, Bernama reported.

“We have the facilities and experience, and with the support and cooperation of the navy’s LCS project team, our vendors, lenders and the government, we are ready to continue with the project,” said BHIC chief executive officer Sharifuddin Md Zaini Al-Manaf in a statement today.