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Tunku Aziz: PKNS staff shouldn’t interfere

Malaysiakini
Oct 29, 08 1:09pm

Staff at the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) should respect the menteri besar’s prerogative in appointing a non-Malay to head the state agency, said DAP vice-chairperson Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim.

“I hope the menteri besar’s decision is respected by all and the PKNS staff will focus on doing their work professionally instead of questioning the prerogative of the state government to appoint the most suitable person for the post,” he said in a statement today.

Tunku Abdul Aziz was commenting on protests by six staff bodies against the appointment of the corporation’s deputy corporate affairs and accounting manager Low Siew Moi as acting general manager. Continue reading “Tunku Aziz: PKNS staff shouldn’t interfere”

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How did RM1.1 billion Eurocopter deal balloon to RM1.67 billion even before issue of LOI?

The Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced yesterday that the defence procurement of 12 Cougar EC725 Eurocopter helicopters had been put on hold until better economic times – making history of the shortest-lived multi-billion ringgit defence deal between the issue of Letter of Intent (LOI) and its cancellation.

He has created more queries about the Eurocopter deal now put on hold, which must be answered either by Abdullah in the Defence Ministry reply in the budget debate in Parliament beginning today as well as the subject of the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the Eurocopter deal, including:

1. Abdullah said that the Eurocopter deal is worth RM1.67 billion and not RM2.3 billion. This figure is also at variance with the price quoted by the Defence Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah who said last week that the tender price of the Eurocopter helicopters was RM1.l billion. How did the RM1.1 billion Eurocopter deal balloon to RM1.67 billion even before the issue of LOI?

2. Abdullah contradicted Abu Bakar as the latter had said that Eurocopter bid was selected in preference over the other six tender bids because “the company had a complete tender offer that obtained the highest marks based on technical evaluation, an offset package while also being at a reasonable price”. Continue reading “How did RM1.1 billion Eurocopter deal balloon to RM1.67 billion even before issue of LOI?”