The government is prepared to be sued over the cancellation of a five-year lease for four US-made Black Hawk helicopters for the army, defence minister Khaled Nordin said today.
“Anyone can sue the government, and the government will certainly challenge it,” he said briefly in Kuantan when asked about a suit over the cancellation of the lease.
In the suit filed by Aerotree Defence and Services Sdn Bhd, the company seeks the restoration of the deal, or a total of RM353 million in damages and compensation. It said the government had agreed to lease four mission-capable Black Hawk helicopters for five years at RM187.5 million.
In November last year, the defence ministry issued a notice of termination of the deal after the supplier failed to meet the delivery deadline, which had already been extended to Oct 30 last year.
The ministry said then that a tender had been issued to procure utility helicopters for the army air corps on a five-year lease for RM187.5 million.
Khaled, who was at the Kuantan air base for a carnival in conjunction with Armed Forces Day celebrations, said the rapid advancement of technology and geopolitical changes required a comprehensive approach involving both the government and society to tackle various security threats.
“We must ensure that national security and defence are not solely the responsibility of the armed forces but involve a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach,” he said.
