KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya’s claim — that the purchase of a new private jet for the prime minister was a cost-saving move — is baseless as the airplane cost RM465.4 million, a PKR lawmaker said yesterday.

PKR secretary-general Mohd Rafizi Ramli also said that it was irresponsible of the Prime Minister’s Department to explain the purchase by saying the jet would also be used by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and state rulers.

“The people can differentiate how many times the Agong is involved in official trips overseas compared with the prime minister,” he said at the parliament lobby yesterday.

Rafizi challenged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to detail every trip made on the private jets owned by the government and who used them.

On Monday, Rafizi revealed that Putrajaya had ordered a new private jet for Najib’s use, bringing the current tally of jets owned by the government to seven.

He said the new Airbus ACJ320 was secured through a direct negotiation hire-purchase deal with Jet Premier One, the same company handling the current Airbus ACJ319 used by the prime minister, which was secured for RM28.8 million yearly in hire purchase and RM5.5 million in yearly maintenance cost — excluding the cost of fuel.

The Prime Minister’s Department subsequently defended the purchase of the new private jet for Najib.

It said the government decided to buy the jet through a hire-purchase agreement for 15 years to replace an older jet due to maintenance costs and safety concerns.

The older aircraft, a Boeing Business Jet will be disposed of to finance the purchase of the new jet, the statement said.

It added that the decision to purchase a new plane was made two years ago in view of the increasing costs required to maintain the older aircraft.

“The purchase of the ACJ320 for the government executive fleet of aircraft will help to reduce operational, management and maintenance costs in view of the fact that we already own an ACJ319,” the statement said.

The Airbus ACJ319 is the current aircraft commonly used by the prime minister.

Yesterday, Rafizi showed one page of the purported hire-purchase document for the new Airbus ACJ320 from Jet Premier One. He said Putrajaya paid a US$20 million deposit on the RM465.4 million jet. He said the rest will be paid in monthly instalments over the next 15 years.

The Pandan member of parliament said the US$20 million is equivalent to RM65.22 million — based on the exchange rate in December last year at RM3.261 — when the deal was signed and sealed.

However, he said the exchange rate now is about RM3.70, which means that the government would have to pay more to make up for the depreciation of the ringgit.

He said the instalment amount is US$679,894 a month, which is equivalent to RM2.22 million monthly for 15 years.

“As such, the final cost will be much higher than RM465.4 million.”

He also asked why Najib could not use national carrier Malaysia Airlines, which needs more support now. He said even Singapore’s prime minister flies commercial.

Rafizi also said that the cost of the hire purchase does not include operation and maintenance costs, which were set out in a separate agreement with Jet Premier One.

“A commercial Boeing can be used for 20 to 25 years if maintenance is done on schedule.

“But the government business jet is only 16 years old and is not used as often as a commercial jet.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 18, 2015.