They agreed with the call by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the governance, procurement and finance investigation committee’s report on the procurement of the six ships to be fully declassified.

“The project’s forensic audit report by Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) and the former navy commander’s letter must also be declassified,” they said in a joint statement, adding that BNS had been appointed to carry out a forensic audit in 2019 to identify any leaks, irregularities and abuse of power in the procurement of the ships.

Earlier, PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said the defence ministry and BNS had ignored the navy’s views on the LCS project.

He said the initial Sigma model ships chosen by the navy were approved by the defence ministry only for this to be changed to the Gowind design on July 11, 2011, after BNS recommended it to the then defence minister three days earlier.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was among the top officials summoned by the PAC, was the defence minister in 2011.

The others summoned included current defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein, defence ministry secretary-general Muez Abd Aziz, former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, current navy chief Mohd Reza Sany and BNS’ CEO and chief operating officer.

Wong pointed out that not a single ship had been completed although RM6 billion had been spent by Putrajaya over the project given to BNS via direct negotiations, adding that the navy should have received five of the ships by August.

Mohamad and Liew also called for a special parliamentary sitting to resolve the problem, urging Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to schedule it early next month.

“The Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara should be allowed at least one day to discuss the PAC report, and the defence and finance ministers allowed to respond to any queries,” they said.