I refer to the malaysiakini report Defence Ministry: No hanky-panky in arms purchases .

The pathetic explanation given by the Defence Ministry regarding the purchase of the Sukhoi SU30MKM fighter jets and Scorpene submarines raises more suspicions than answers. The public is not concerned with the laborious explanation regarding the negotiations carried out by the ministry and neither are they interested in the approval levels and the checks by the technical and price committee.

What the tax-paying public is interested in is why was the contract awarded to Perimekar to prepare support and coordination services for six years. The contract value was 114.96 mil euros (RM534.8 mil) to be paid in stages according to the level of progress of the project.

What kind of support and coordination services that Perimekar can provide that the Defence Ministry is not capable of providing?

The pertinent question that begs to be answered is why was the contract awarded to Perimekar in the first place. In view of the substantial amount involved (RM534.8 mil), was there any open tender for the contract?

Perimekar, for all intents and purposes, is jointly owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), Boustead Holdings Bhd and KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd.

The ownership of Perimekar reveals one interesting fact. None of them appears to have any expertise in the area of defence equipment. So how could they provide any support and coordination services to the Defence Ministry?

The revelation of the owner of KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd is even more fascinating. A political analyst by profession and a close associate of Deputy Prime Minister,Najib Razak. One Razak Baginda owns Ombak Laut.

The public deserves an answer why a contract of such proportion (RM534.8 mil) was awarded to a political analyst, a job that could easily be monitored by the Defence Ministry itself.

The nature of the contract, albeit under the guise of 'support and coordination services', is nothing but a concealment of commission paid to parties or party closely associated to the Defence Ministry.