It appears the United States government has a bone to pick with Malaysia regarding the two missing Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) jet engines, based on three leaked cables exposed by Wikileaks.

The cables, dated between Dec 23, 2009 and Jan 10, 2010, revealed that the US Embassy in Malaysia had been frustrated repeatedly by officials from the Malaysian Defence Ministry, as requests for a full report on the theft of the two jet engines were not fulfilled.

The third cable, dated Jan 10, 2010 and marked confidential, cited commentaries on the online media, which “expressed incredulity” at the Malaysian government’s position that the thefts were carried out solely by two relatively low-level individuals and that the “higher-ups in the military and elsewhere” were not involved.

“On Jan 6 (2010), the (US) Embassy’s Office of Development Cooperation received a letter from the RMAF which provided a brief update on the missing engines case and indicated a willingness to respond to additional inquiries from the USG (US government) once the GOM’s (government of Malaysia) investigation is completed.

“We share some of the incredulity expressed in the blogosphere about the (Malaysian) government’s case and explanation of who was behind the engine thefts.

“In coordination with Washington, Post (the Embassy) is continuing to push for a complete accounting of how the thefts occurred and the ultimate disposition of the engines, and to remind the GOM of the seriousness of the issue and need for remedial actions,” the cable stated.

It is understood that any country that purchases arms from the United States is required to provide the latter with a full report should the equipment be stolen or found missing.

The third cable also included the contents of what appears to be an official letter signed by Air Force chief Gen Rodzali Daud, dated Jan 5, 2010, informing the US government of the theft of the two F-5E J85-21 engines from the RMAF’s inventory.

Malaysia pledged swift action

The letter explained that the RMAF had conducted an internal investigation, leading to a re-examination and tightening of handling and transportation of equipment in their inventory.

The letter also stated that the Air Force had lodged a police report on Aug 4, 2008, and that the police were proceeding with investigations and “criminal prosecution” against the individuals involved in the theft.

“The RMAF fully understood the requirements of the United States government on Foreign Military Sales policy in relation to this incident but was unable to notify earlier pending completion of investigations by the Royal Malaysian Police.

“We believed that the investigation is nearing its conclusion and will follow with prosecution by the Attorney-General’s Chambers. We will endeavour to notify the progress on this matter to the United States government through your office as soon as we have more information,” the letter stated.

In the first cable, dated Dec 23, 2009, the US Embassy highlighted three incidences where the Malaysian Air Force had the opportunity but failed to inform the US government of the missing engines, particularly between March and July that year, when the RMAF informed the US Embassy that it had sent one F-5 engine to a Canadian company for repairs.

‘No discrepancies reported’

Prior to that, the RMAF had sent an “inventory recertification listing” of the J-85 engines to the US Air Force engine programme manager in January 2009. No discrepancies were identified in the RMAF’s inventory at the time.

The RMAF and USAF also conducted a routine bilateral J-85 engine review conference in May the same year. The cable - also marked as classified - stated that again, no issue of missing engines was raised with the US Embassy at the conference.

“The Malaysian Air Force should have been acutely aware of the requirement to advise the US immediately of missing engines, especially after the formal notification process undertaken in March-July period mentioned above,” the cable read, referring to the engine sent to Canada for repairs.

The only positive reference to the Malaysian Air Force was found in the second cable, dated Dec 28, 2009 and marked unclassified.

In a short report to Washington, the US Embassy indicated that its Office of Defence Cooperation chief Lt-Col Steve Ma had met RMAF Director of Materiel Brig-Gen Azizan Shaari, who “appeared willing to establish a dialogue” with Embassy officials on the engine theft while expressing “hope that his office would have something for us in writing” by Jan 8, 2010.

In January last year, RMAF sergeant N Tharmendran and company managing director K Rajendran Prasad were charged in the Sessions Court in relation to the theft of the two missing jet engines.

Tharmendran pleaded not guilty to abetting fellow airman Mohamad Shukri with stealing the two jet engines at the RMAF’s Sungai Besi airbase on April 30, 2008, while Rajendran was charged with disposing off the engines at the Subang Industrial Park on the same date.

Tharmendran and Rajendran were also collectively slapped with eight charges of money laundering, involving a total of nearly RM500,000 in relation to the jet engine thefts. Both men claimed trial to all charges.