Mohamad told the Dewan Rakyat that it was the previous government, in its final Cabinet meeting, that decided to cut down the number of LCS units to five, at the same cost.

“At the time, it was up to the then Cabinet to decide whether it was six or five units. The then government decided to keep it at five,” he said in his winding-up speech on the royal address at the Dewan Rakyat.

Earlier this week, Mohamad said the cost for the project would remain the same although the navy would only receive five frigates instead of the original six.

He said there would be no reduction in the cost of the RM9 billion project that had been previously approved due to the many variations from the original order and inflation.

On Jan 5, the unity government decided to go ahead with the LCS project as part of its effort to strengthen the country’s defences.

The LCS project, said to be the largest defence procurement in Malaysia’s history, came under much scrutiny last year after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that not a single ship had been completed although Putrajaya had already paid out RM6.08 billion.

The PAC said the navy should have received five of the ships by August last year.

The project had been awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd  through direct negotiations.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which investigated the project, had previously recommended that several individuals be charged.