YOURSAY 'There was a case where they bought second-hand 27 fighter jets from the US and left them in Arizona as they were not in a condition to fly back to Malaysia.'

Defence Ministry pays RM3.2bil for shoddy quarters

Mushiro: The Defence Ministry has been buried deep in this practice of mis-spending and cheating the government since the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

There was a case where they bought second-hand 27 fighter jets from the US and left them in Arizona as they were not in a condition to fly back to Malaysia. Then there was a case where they bought tons of Maggie mee for 10 times above the market price.

Recent cases include the Scorpene submarines, helicopters and the army vehicles bought at prices that were way above market price.

The auditor-general report has been pointing these out all these years but the culprits which include the ministers always get away scot-free. It is the defence personnel who suffer because of the inferior quality of the products.

LittleGiant: Excessive spending and wasteful expenditure is nothing new in our government administration.

All ministries and government agencies have got 'immuned' to the auditor-general's report highlighting all sorts of mismanagement of government funds, including huge sums of money wasted on wrongful procurement.

But nothing has changed all these years and nothing too will change from this year's report as everyone - from the minister to the last staff member in the ministries concerned - know very well that all the 'hoo-haa' will get fizzled out in a matter of weeks until the next report.

And this 'cycle' will go on. I would recommend that the auditor-general send his report straight away to the National Archives (Arkib Negara) for 'safe-keeping' instead of wasting more money on printing copies of it and circulating it to all the departments and agencies where probably it is 'consigned' to the store rooms to collect dust.

FellowMalaysian: Six of the tenders were awarded to a 'incompetent and technically inexperienced' JV (joint venture) between MOF (Finance Ministry) and Mindef (Defence Ministry).

A total of 84 percent cost overrun amounts to RM1.46 billion. A RM87 million fine was exempted. Expired bank guarantees were not renewed.

Although needing repairs, instructions were ignored and the project was certified complete. Please call ‘Inspector Clouseau' Rafizi to investigate.

DontPlayGod: I am quite surprised that there is even a semblance of low-cost houses being built. I would have thought that they would paid the multi-billion ringgit invoice with no houses being built at all, i.e. on a false invoice for work not done.

How was the work approved? Possibly, since the project was given to some crony, there wasn't any need to supervise or verify the work for quality.

How can the overrun come up to a whopping 84 percent? The negotiated contract price, I am sure is already at a daylight robbery price, and still they need to have an overrun of 84 percent.

Dark Archon: This goes to proof one thing - government and business should not mix.

How could the MOF set up a company to bid projects issued by the MOF itself? The result was cost overruns and shoddy works. After it has been exposed, they blamed the sub-contractors for the lousy works.

Worse still, Mindef applied to MOF to waive the fines imposed on the contractor. Unbelievable!

Karma: Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi, the spoilt houses are more demotivating to the army personnels than the constant complaint by Pakatan Rakyat on the highly priced of defence purchases.

SMC77: I would urge Armed Forces personnel to stand up and fight for their rights. What is the point of giving your support to BN blindly?

Do you want to put your family members under a building that could collapse anytime? Do you think your support is appreciated by the corrupted BN?

AF McLaren: In the 80s, a businessman called Abdullah Ang built a shoddy ammunition depot in Sungai Udang, Malacca. It had to be demolished and rebuilt. So, this is nothing new. History repeats itself.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang can call for royal commission, but nothing is going to happen

Tholu: Now we know why the debating of the Auditor-General's Report in Parliament was delayed - to give time for the government to frantically prepare answers for the corruption committed.

And yet it is still unable to answer corruption charges and resort to outlandish lie.

One example: The ministry claims that it had issued a ‘certificate of making good defects' (CMGD) in February 2009, to indicate that repairs had been completed to the Air Force quarters in Subang.

But the auditor-general in his report says it was not done. Who is telling the truth here?

Hplooi: "9,455 units of quarters ranging from flats to bungalows" for RM1.7 billion (original budget). That works out to RM180,000 construction cost per unit plus infrastructure works.

Now I can safely assert that construction cost is not more than RM100,000 for flats (below 800 sq ft). Basic bungalows (below 1,200 sq ft) would also not cost more than RM200,000. Any quantity surveyor out there who can verify this?

So if they pass the contract to me, I will guarantee a 'kickback' of at least 10 percent to whoever award me the contract. And what is even more ghastly is that the contract has ballooned to over RM3 billion. Talking about snout in the gravy-swill.

Multi Racial: Well, allow me to defend the minister and the Defense Ministry. Firstly, there is no corruption. The reason is simple. Because the minister is from Umno and Umno is incorruptible.

Even if money is directly deposited into Umno politician's account, it is still not consider corruption. It can be easily explained away as contributions to the party.

Anonymous_3e86: Well, George Kent clinched the extension of the Ampang LRT (light rail transit) line deal even without experience in rail building. It will eventually end up like all these shoddy accommodations.

By that time, it will be too late - huge commissions would have been given and stashed away in foreign accounts. These mega projects will end up with ballooned costs and the BN government will close one eye to all these corruption.

Jedi_Who: It looks like they are making corrupted deals not only from arms and submarines but anything and everything.

Abuminable: Both the Defence and Finance Ministries are involved in this massive scam. Who's the key link? Who else...

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