SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has selected Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) developed FA-50 jets as the winner of its tender but it already has hit a roadblock after the Malaysian finance ministry objected to the deal since the Koreans had offered the sale of 18 jets at RM 4.2 billion, way above the Chinese bid of JF-17 at RM 3.4 Bn and India’s indigenously built Tejas-Mk-1 at RM 3.75 Bn when the state budget for the deal was only 3.5 billion Ringgit Malaysia.
According to a report in ” Times of India,” they are allegations that RMAF has not adhered to the technical parameters set in RFP (Request for Proposal) and even diluted capabilities that it initially had sought at the bidding stage to favor the Korean offer while ignoring much more capable jets offered at lower costs.
Malaysian Defence Ministry and RMAF have been asked by the Malaysian Finance Ministry why they have selected jets that are not within budget since they very well knew the budget set by the Finance Ministry for the deal. Local Malaysian media is abuzz with allegations of Senior officials of the RMAF getting kickbacks and commissions in this tender by the Korean firm.
JF-17 bid is the cheapest but it has been reported in local media that it has been rejected on technical grounds and only the Indian offer of LCA-Tejas meets all the technical requirements and is a much cheaper offer than Korea’s offer of FA-50.
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