KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail today confirmed only rank-and-file servicemen were involved in the scandalous theft of the two F-5E jet engines two years ago, saying they would be prosecuted soon.
The country’s top lawyer also said no effort will be spared to recover the two G J85-21A turbojet engines found missing from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Sungei Besi base in 2007, adding the government will seek help from foreign authorities.
The theft of the two engines — each worth RM50 million — became public only after it was exposed by a local newspaper last month.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s response that investigations were ongoing after two years had immediately attracted charges of a cover-up from opposition politicians.
Government officials have declined to identify the cargo’s destination, but Western diplomats closely tracking the situation said that the engines were destined for Iran, which has been under a US trade embargo since 1995 and is now under global scrutiny because of its refusal to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme. The police later said the engines are allegedly in Argentina.
RMAF officials said they can still operate its fleet of F-5Es despite the loss of the 30-year-old technology engines, said to be spares kept in Sungei Besi despite the F-5E squadron is based in the RMAF Butterworth airbase.
Malaysia bought the 14 F-5Es in 1974 and decommissioned them in 1999.
One crashed in the Malacca Strait near Perak on May 31, 1995. There are 13 now but only six are operational after they came back to service in 2003.-MalaysianInsider
