The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has charged that the Finance Ministry wasted RM50 million in buying unnecessary tools for Fire and Rescue Department.

PAC chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed (left) said today the purchase of 116 cutting extinguishers must be immediately explained.

The "CCS Cobra Cutting Extinguisher E300" were bought through direct negotiation from Syarikat Kejuruteraan Asas Jaya Sdn Bhd.

These are considered unnecessary and have not been not fully utilised by the Fire and Rescue Department.

Nur Jazlan said this after hearing an explanation from Fire and Rescue Department deputy director Mahadi Mat Ali on the matter raised in the Auditor-General's 2012 report.

He told reporters after the PAC meeting that the Fire Department did not even request for the cutting extinguishers, but was directed by the Finance Ministry to make the purchase.

“That is what we are trying to find out from the Finance Ministry. Why did they request the Fire Department to buy the equipment - we don’t know what the reason is - and they gave the allocation,” he said.

When asked, Nur Jazlan said the equipment is an attachment to the Fire Department’s existing equipment for cutting through buildings and other hard objects.

“Basically it is used for search and rescue, but for Malaysia where the incidence of earthquakes and building collapses is quite rare, so this equipment is considered non-essential equipment,” he said.