KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called up the Ministry of Defence yesterday to give an explanation on the disappearance of two F-5E jet engines belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).
Among those seen attending the first meeting of the PAC on the disappearance of the engines were the Defence Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Abdullah and RMAF chief General Datuk Seri Rodzali Daud who represented the ministry.
“Today, we started with the briefing session on procedures only,” said PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid after the meeting at the Parliament House, here.
He said the investigation on the disappearance of the jet engines was expected to be completed before March to enable the investigation report to be tabled in Parliament which would be sitting in mid-March.
The media had previously reported the disappearance of the RMAF’s F-5E jet fighter engines worth RM303,570 based on the sale and purchase contract in 1972.
The engine was said to have been sold to an international company abroad.
The RMAF began to use the F-5E fighter jets in 1974 but in 1999 the use of the fighter jets was terminated and the MiG-29N and F/A-18D fighter jets were then used in their place.
However, in 2003 the F-5E jets were reactivated for training and surveillance purposes.
Earlier this month, a RMAF sergeant and a company director were charged at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court over the disappearance of the jet engines. — Bernama