Thursday, January 22, 2009

THE PREVALENCE OF CORRUPT PRACTICE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Can anyone imagine a foreigner being awarded the supply of defence equipments worth billions without going through the process of an open tender? And can you believe that the same foreigner has in all probability been awarded the contract for the maintenance of the very defence equipment that he had supplied? Finally, I am told, it is again the same foreigner who was awarded another contract for the supply of a passive radar system for the army, once again, not through the process of an open tender.

Haven't I said in my previous articles that the award of contract through direct negotiation is an opportunity for corrupt practice. But the Defence Ministry with billions to spend, seems to favour direct negotiations, as oppose to the process of an open tender. I am also told that there is a third process of awarding contracts which they termed as the 'wahyu' process. This 'wahyu' must have it origins from 'heaven', because no one is allowed to oppose the 'wahyu' and strict compliance is to be expected.

Now who can this foreigner be, who mingles easily with the top brasses of the Armed Forces and is accorded easy access to the Defence Ministry. Most certainly, I do not know him nor have I met him. But from what I gather, he is extremely rich and when the ministry's top military brasses and officials goes abroad on a site visit to the manufacturers of the defence equipment intended for purchase, this foreigner will accord the ministry's top brasses and officials with the luxuries like never before.

The defence equipment that I was referring to is the JERNAS air defence system, which is actually the export name for Rapier air defence system, delivered to the Malaysian Army in 2006.; the manufacturers being Matra BAe Dynamics of the United Kingdom. Two regiments worth of JERNAS (delivered over different period) were purchased at a cost of almost RM 2 billion.

As I have said above, the purchased was through direct negotiations with the foreigner being the agent. I recently gathered that six months after the equipments were delivered to the army, the manufacturer ceased its operations and is no longer manufacturing parts and components for the equipment. Don't the army feel cheated by the manufacturer, and with no parts and components to purchase, I wonder for how long more will the RM 2 billion worth of equipment remain fully operational.

Recently, there was an announcement made by the Armed Forces top brass of their intended acquisition of the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). I am not surprise if the same foreigner is the agent and once again, the favoured process of direct negotiations by the ministry's procurement officials.

Please pardon me if I say that I smell another skunk in this whole process of awarding contracts by the Defence Ministry. Why to the same foreigner, and I tend to believe there are some influential officials from the ministry who have facilitated the award of contracts to this favoured foreigner. These officials (whoever they are) are scums that deserve to be sliced in their bellies and to be gorge by the dogs.

I would like to place a challenge to all serving members of the Armed Forces to come forward to report to the authorities of any corrupt practice that there are aware of in the award of contracts. I plea to you to fight this scourge of corruption within the Armed Forces, and to maintain your dignity and honour as the loyal servant of the king and country.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
Posted at 10.30pm Jan 22, 2009

12 comments:

eli said...

Dear Dato'

If I could recall, the English man name had been mentioned at least twice in this blog by MAURICE in Oct 2008.

Keep up the good work Dato'

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Eli,

Yes, I remembered Maurice mentioned this fellow called Sidney Franklin in his comments to my article titled ' Eurocopter - A whopping RM 1 billion profit' posted on Oct 15, 2008. This must be the fellow you are referring to. Just wonder who are in the 'pay list' of this fellow?

eli said...

Dato'
Point to ponder. It seems that MAF has been used as the testing ground for prototypes or the dumping ground for end of production-line equipments such as the SKYHAWK, SEA SKUA, JERNAS and many others. Bottom line, MAF will be spending more money chasing bad money and happily managing obsolescent. Question…who were the main driving forces behind these shady deals

Anonymous said...

Do not make allegation wildly, it is called Defamation, and a legal suit might be pursued by the injured party.It is wise and heroic to gather all hard evidences and facts, and submit to the relevant MPs to be raised in Parliament for the raayat to know what is going on in Mindef and as a consequences no young Malaysian should join the Military as protest.I am sure the oppossition is quite strongly represented in Parliament now to shout and spill the beans.......lets see then who will shit brick.

maurice said...

The foreigner has the physical look of a Jew actually, judging by his sharp hooked nose.

Believed to be very influential in Mindef especially with planners and decision-makers.

He is a close associate of Tan Sri Arumugam, who himself had secured defence projects from Mindef worth several billions under TDM when Tun Daim was the Finance Minister before.

The English man had been awarded with at least 3 major defence projects by Mindef through direct negotiations worth at least RM2.5 billions in the past 10 years.

Now pursuing the AWEC project which is expected to be worth several billions.

Difficult to believe no kickbacks involved when projects are awarded through direct negotiations.

maurice said...

Actually his two sons and mistress are with him in KL from time to time to help him handle the Mindef and MOF people.

The guy is so rich that he is able to lease a luxury condo (The Ascot) which is close to KLCC on long-term basis.

A former TPTD threw him out of Mindef complex for coming unescorted but no follow -up action were fothcoming because he has strong backing from some quarters in Mindef.

Heard he had sponsored one former top miltary leadership and his family to a holiday in the UK.

Give the impression that he has totally penetrated Mindef and to a certain extent the MOF as well.

maurice said...

A former brilliant TPTD actually opposed the Jernas project but he suffered the consequence of his brave action.

Now the Army needs all the spares it could get to maintain the Jernas systems.It seems BAE UK will only sell them to Mindef if we could afford to pay them several hundreds million pounds for the entire needed stock of Jernas spares.

The British has not shed its colonial mentality of deceit when dealing with developing states like Malaysia and others.And yet we have not learnt enough!

maurice said...

We should ask a fundamental question why a foreigner is allowed by the government to act as local agent in our own country to promote military equipment.

Is is not the policy of the government to have Malaysians appointed as the local agent to foreign companies if they want to sell their equipment to Mindef?

That this particular foreigner is allowed operate in our midst does give rise to some unpleasant speculations about the behaviour of our our policy/decision-makers.

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Maurice,

Thank you so much for your informative and daring comments. I will be gathering more info of this fellow named Franklin from other like minded friends, who have seen this fellow reign Mindef. I could guess who the brave and no nonsense senior officer that you are referring to, who is also a close friend of mine. Please continue to let out what you know of these unscrupulous Mindef deals, and the beneficiaries to these deals. It is our responsibility as good citizens to keep crusading against corruption that has been so deep rooted in our society.

maurice said...

By the way, if you want to meet Sidney Franklin and sons just attend any Open House or wedding function organized by the military top leadership.You can be rest assured they will be there rubbing shoulders with their military friends.

maurice said...

Dato,

Please let me have your fax number.Thanks.

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Maurice,

I can be contacted at email arshadraji43@yahoo.com.