PKR claims more than S$255 million needed to maintain Najib’s new private jet

KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian government will spend some RM690 million (S$255.9 million) to maintain a newly-acquired private jet used by the prime minister for the next 15 years, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli revealed today (March 31).

He said that the cost including services to maintain an older private jet for the next seven years, the total costs for operation, maintenance and management (OMM) of both aircraft would come to a whopping RM1.098 billion.

“The contract for OMM for the new ACJ320 jet shows that the costs have been set at RM46 million per year. This means that in the next 15 years, when the hire purchase agreement ends, the total OMM costs will be RM690 million,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

Mr Rafizi also said that the total cost of both private jets, including purchase and servicing, would cost the government almost RM1.6 billion over the next 15 years.

“This means that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot scream if the people feel that a part of the GST (goods and services tax) they are paying would be used to maintain his lavish lifestyle and that of his Cabinet ministers in using the private jets,” the Pandan MP said.

The older private jet, an ACJ319, was bought in 2007. The government has spent RM304 million for the OMM costs of the jet so far.

Mr Rafizi revealed two weeks ago that the government had ordered a new private aircraft for Mr Najib’s use, which was later confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that the Airbus corporate jetliner was bought to replace the 16-year-old Boeing business jet.

Mr Rafizi said that the new purchase brought the tally to seven aircraft owned by the government.

Last week, Mr Rafizi said that the government paid an excess of RM109 million for the latest private jet from Jet Premier One (Malaysia) (JPO), a private company that had acquired the aircraft from Air Luther AG.

He said this amount was derived from the current market value of the ACJ320 compared to the price the Malaysian government had paid to JPO.

“JPO sold the ACJ320 private jet at a hire purchase price, causing Putrajaya to pay a higher price from the cost that it would incur if it had bought the jet itself, without JPO,” he added. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER