The Public Accounts Committee should take it upon itself to probe the recent 'dubious' purchase of train engines since the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has been sitting on the case for a month.

This call came today from Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians whose patience has run thin with the MACC attitude over the Keratapi Tanah Melayu's (KTMB) case.

Speaking at a press conference in Parliament today, Zahrain Mohd Hasim (PKR- Bayan Baru) who heads Pakatan shadow transport committee also wanted Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat to come clean on the diesel multiple unit (DMU) commuter trains purchase.

NONE "Other than an investigation by PAC, we also would like the minister to come clean on this issue because we saw many related matters which do not make sense.

"How can Costa Rica pay 2 million Euros (RM10 million) and we pay 6 million Euros (RM30 million) for the same thing?" he asked.

According to Zahrain ( left ), PAC action alone is not good enough so, they would also be lodging a report with the MACC soon.

"If the government is sincere with its ‘people first and performance now' then the issue should be tabled in Parliament," he said.

"The transport ministry has been involved in many problems. The PKFZ problem has not yet been solved and now we have this. If we do not voice it out then the people will be cheated.

"We will report with the information we have. So far it is fairly complete but there are one or two matters that we would like to clarify before we present the case to the MACC," said Zahrain.

Ex-KTM MD defends purchase

Last month, the transport ministry came under the parliamentary spotlight when a number of Barisan Nasional lawmakers urged the MACC to investigate the purchase of DMU commuter trains for a total of RM30 million which they regarded as odd.

Ismail Kasim (BN-Arau) who raised the issue, said the way the trains were purchased raised suspicion, as not only the units did not follow the standards and specifications as required, the purchase was not even approved by the KTMB board of directors.

"So, what is the rationale for spending RM30 million on the trains when the Costa Rica and Argentina railways only bought DMUs which are 20 years old at (the equivalent of) RM10 million?" he had said then.

NONE Another lawmaker, Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin) also regarded the purchase of the four sets of DMU trains as strange as their maximum speed was only 80kph.

"The government has already spent a lot of money on the (Rawang-Ipoh) double-tracking project so as to raise train speed to exceed 120kph, while even the cargo trains can travel at 90kph," he pointed out.

Despite coming under heavy attack KTMB's former managing director Radzak Abdul Malek had defended the purchase, saying it was to overcome a shortage of commuter trains under an economic stimulus programme.

Radzak also revealed that the rail company paid less than other countries for the used DMUs.

"During my tenure as KTMB MD, one of my main priorities was to resolve the problem of having insufficient trains faced by the public who use the KTMB Komuter services, especially in the Klang Valley.

"With public complaints mounting, it was a problem that needed to be resolved fast," Radzak was reported to have said.