KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30, 2008): THE Eurocopter deal, which has now been put on hold by the government, was sealed without conducting physical evaluation on the helicopters, Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop told the Dewan Rakyat today.

EUROCOPTER EC 725 COUGAR

Admitting that it did not include any test flights or factory visits, he said in his winding-up speech for the 2009 Budget, the government made the decision (not to have physical evaluation) because of three factors.

"First, there were complete documentations for the technical committee to make its assessment. Second, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) had enough data about helicopters in the market.

"And finally, it was also to guarantee the integrity of the six-man technical committee so that it won’t be questioned by anyone," he said, while stressing that the committee should not have any interactions with the tenderers.

However, the Opposition MPs could not accept such an explanation with its leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Permatang Pauh) saying it was impossible for such a sophisticated equipment to be purchased without any physical evaluation.

"This is ridiculous. … Please don't get offended but in my eight years experience in the Finance Ministry, there has never been such a case. If it actually happened, this is a new world record of Malaysia Boleh," he said.

Lim Kit Siang

M. Manogaran (DAP-Teluk Intan) said: "I am shocked! Even when we buy a Kancil, we would inspect it physically first. I would like to know who are these six officers in the committee? What are their expertise?"

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) said the government looked like playing around with the lives of RMAF pilots while Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) and N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai) also voiced their dissatisfaction.

Abu Seman said the committee had prepared specific guidelines to be fulfilled and what is more important is to ensure the manufacturers had built the aircraft according to the required specifications.

"What is important is the preliminary and final acceptance tests which would assess the helicopters later. ... And, in terms of safety, it is not fair for you to accuse as though we are not sensitive to people's life," he said.

Fed-up with the Opposition, Datuk Tajudin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) interjected, saying since the government has decided to postpone the purchase, there is no need to discuss it in detail.

"It will be overtaken by events. This is just academic. Later, during the delivery, you don’t expect the government to simply accept them. We can test them first. If they are not according to specs, not reliable or defective, we can reject them," he said while urging Abu Seman to move to another topic.

Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Earlier during the debates, Lim and Anwar had raised the point about the differences in the offer price made by Eurocopter for the 12 EC 725 Cougar helicopters between the statement made by Defence Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah (RM1.1 billion) and that by Abu Seman (RM1.604 billion).

Lim also noted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said the price was RM1.67 billion.

To this, Abu Seman said the RM1.604 billion had encompassed the offset and technical support package and cited foreign exchange rate as a factor for the differences in figure.

However, Lim argued that according to the tender, the bids will be evaluated on the foreign exchange rate on the closing date of the bid, therefore there should not be any discrepancies.

To this, Abu Seman said: "The price was Euro 323.7 million. That is the official figure. You can say what you want."

On another matter, he clarified that the deal had not involved any commission paid out by the supplier or the government to any quarters.