Malaysia Chronicle
Earlier this week, a newspaper in Hong Kong ran an expose’ of the Scorpene submarines scandal implicating Prime Minister Najib Razak, his close friend Razak Baginda and murdered Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.
In the news report, which was picked up by several Malaysian blogs, Najib was portrayed as the main culprit behind the conspiracy to skim a huge commission from the Malaysian government’s purchase of the 2 submarines from French arms maker DCNS.
He was also implicated in the Altantuya murder, for which two of his former bodyguards have been sentenced to hang while Baginda was controversially acquitted.
The HK newspaper also reported that the French courts had summoned Najib to testify as witness in the corruption trial filed by Malaysian NGO SUARAM against DCNS.
The 28-year-old Altantuya, believed to have been lovers with both Najib and Baginda, was portrayed as a translator who was killed for her role as a middleman in the case, in which Najib and Baginda have been accused of collecting an illegal kickback worth more than RM500 million.
She was shot in the head in a jungle clearing in Malaysia in 2006 and her body bombed with military-grade C4 explosives to prevent identification.
More funds needed to nail the culprits
Meanwhile, SUARAM has announced that it will be launching Ops Scorpene 2.0 to raise funds to fight DCNS in the French courts. It has issued the statement below.
“SUARAM hopes that with the commencement of the Submarine case in France, we can send a clear message that Malaysians will not sit back and accept corrupt politicians and rampant corruption activities in Malaysia.
The submarine commission scandal, one of the greatest Malaysian robberies in modern times, is not a single one-off issue but reflects the widespread abuse of the Barisan Nasional administration with spiraling dominos effects, on how tax payers monies have been used and abused.
SUARAM is a human rights organization, known to speak out fearlessly in defence of human rights, good governance and an open and accountable society. We pursued the court case to seek truth and justice for the Malaysian people whose monies have been misused. For over 20 years SUARAM has worked to expose corrupt practices, poor governance and champion the rights of people before profits.
So to continue the struggle to unravel the scandals behind the submarine purchase, and in pursuance of the ongoing case in France, SUARAM needs much help and donations from people of Malaysia. This campaign needs to continue without any interference and with the full support of the Malaysian people. Costs are very high and will remain that way for the next few years until the case is disposed off and the truth unraveled, once and for all.”
Second fundraising campaign
Ops Scorpene 2.0 is a second fundraiser and awareness campaign (the first was in July 2011) to further pursue and to bear expenses of the case in the French courts, which has escalated to become a huge issue of national interest.
It seeks to instill consciousness amongst Malaysians to question arms spending and transparency in arms procurement of the country.
The dinner will be held on 15 June 2012, 7.30 pm at Dewan Sivik MBPJ, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Ops Scorpene aims to raise RM300, 000 from this fundraising dinner and to bear the legal fees of the lawyers who are working to ensure the success of the case.
Cynthia Gabriel from SUARAM, Joseph Breham, one of the 2 French lawyers, and political leaders like Saudara Mat Sabu, Members of parliament Tian Chua and Tony Pua will address the latest developments surrounding the case.
There will also be a number of performances and booths for NGOs to get their message and campaign forward (scroll below for details of event).
How it began
On the 5th June 2002, the Malaysian Government signed an agreement with French DCNS and Spanish Navantia for the procurement of two Scorpene class submarines. The procurement contract was through direct negotiation with the manufacturing companies, said to be with the service of Perimekar Sdn Bhd. Razak Baginda is the owner of Perimekar.
According to the Government explanation, the contract was divided into two parts:
Cost of two Scorpene submarines together with the package that covers Integrated Logistic Support and training amounted to Euro 969.15m (however on 14 May 2008, Najib told the Parliament that this part cost Euro 999.15)
Payment to Perimekar Sdn Bhd in the name of "coordination services" for a period of six years, the sum was Euro 114.96m.
With the exchange rate at the time, the cost was equivalent to:
Payment for submarine cost between: RM 2.14b (Euro=RM3.2 in 2002) – RM 5.43b (Euro=RM5.6 in 2008) (now Euro=RM4.7)
Commission: probably about RM 540m (exchange rate at the time of payment)
Complaint filed in the hope of initiating a probe
On 23 December 2009, SUARAM through its networks in France linked up with leading human rights lawyers in France, to file a complaint with the French judicial system, with the hope that a preliminary investigation would be initiated. This was done to enable access to information, to the government contracts signed with PERIMEKAR and other information classified as government secrets in Malaysia.
In April 2010, the lawyers representing SUARAM informed that the courts had accepted the request to investigate the claim of corruption for a payment amounting to Euro 114 million made as commissions from DCNS to Perimekar.
The French, practising the Civil Law system where a judge assumes the role of an inquisitorial and investigative referee, has so far kept the findings of its investigations confidential.
SUARAM lawyers however, have informed that the investigation is coming to an end, and should move to full trial after it decides whether or not there is sufficient evidence to pursue the matter in open court.
On 16 March 2012, the French courts have opened an inquiry into the alleged corruption, misuse and abuse of taxpayer's money, linked to the purchase of the 2 Scorpene class submarines, back in 2002.
First degree court: Witnesses including Najib proposed
An inquiry into the alleged corruption, misuse and abuse of taxpayers money, linked to the purchase of the two Scorpene class submarines, back in 2002 commence on 19 April 2012 (Thursday) at the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI), known as a first degree court that deals with civil litigation matters. This investigation will be conducted before two judges, Judge Roger Le Loire and Judge Serge Tournaire.
On 20th April SUARAM was represented by Dr. Kua Kia Soong (Director and one of the founders of SUARAM), followed by Cynthia Gabriel (Secretariat Member) and lawyer Fadiah Nadwa. They appeared before Judge Roger Le Loire with their lawyer Joseph Breham.
Dr Kua presented the case for SUARAM, pinning its hopes on the judicial hearing in France after the disappointing trial over the Altantuya murder, the ineffectual MACC, the suppression of information in Malaysia and the lack of transparency in the parliamentary questions over the Scorpene commissions.
SUARAM duly proposed then Defence Minister and current Prime Minister Najib Razak, Abdul Razak Baginda, the defence minister Zahid Hamidi, PI Balasubramaniam, Setev Shariibuu, Jasbir Singh Chahl, Tan Sri Lodin and Mazlinda as the potential witnesses as the case proceeds.
On 3rd May 2012, SUARAM revealed that it has gained full access to investigation papers from the Public Prosecutor's office. This is a huge step forward, as many of the details kept confidential are now made accessible to SUARAM as the Plaintiff in the civil case against the DCNS. French law provides several constraints on the area of access. While SUARAM was not able to obtain a hard copy and distribute copies around, it is however entitled to a full view of the documents and is able to quote from them to the media and to the public.
New findings
At the PC SUARAM revealed new expose and findings on:
a. Document 87
b. Document 144
Document 87
The documents seized by the French police from the office of Mr. Henri GIDE (THALES) on 28 May 2010 which includes a fax written in English and sent by F. DUPONT dated 1 June 2001 addressed to D. ARNAUD, CCed to BAIOCCO and SAUVAGEOT with "MALAYSIA/SUBMARINE PROJECT" as the subject. Mr. DUPONT detailed out the chronology of visits and future actions during the journey in Malaysia of which there were various planned undertakings in particular negotiation meetings with the Ministry of Defense and the management members of PERIMEKAR during which two (2) contract proposals would be mentioned (from DCNI to PERIMEKAR as well as between PERIMEKAR and the Malaysian Government). He finally indicated a meeting with DATO' SRI NAJIB in France on 14 July 2001 with the condition that DCNI offers a maximum sum of USD 1 billion for PERIMEKAR's stay (in France).
Envelope with sub-folder entitled ‘C4′
The prosecutor's office upon instructions had received from THALES International Asia, an envelope on 22 August 2011. The envelope contained:
- A sub folder entitled "C4"
- A sub folder entitled "invoices"
- PDF files
- A USB thumb drive
Among the crucial documents was the existence of an invoice faxed by TERASASI Sdn Bhd (Company No.524814-P) on 19 September 2004 to Bernard BAIOCCO the then CEO of THALES International Asia. The invoice stated an amount of Euro 359, 450.00 for the purpose of success fees to be paid to Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad, Branch CP Tower, Seksyen 16, Petaling Jaya, Account No:12109-0-01-3000450-8 and contains a handwritten note in French as follows:
"Razak demande si ce SF peut etre pris en compte assez vite. Le Support Fee suit avec un rapport".
Translation : Razak requests if that SF can be taken into account quite urgently. The support fee follows with a report.
Beneficiaries- Najib and Baginda?
It therefore appears that Thales International Asia could not ignore that the sum paid to TERASASI Sdn Bhd ultimately benefitted Mr Najib Razak the Minister of Defence and/or his consultant Abdul Razak Baginda.
It has become apparent that this constitutes one of the Malaysian government's greatest robberies over its people! It is no longer just the Euro 114.9 million commissions to Perimekar that formed the basis of the complaint to the French Courts that is in question.
It has magnified into a web of lies involving a slew of companies formed to complicate the concealment of the blatant robbery of Malaysian and French tax-payers' money. More retro-commissions have surfaced allowing the misuse of such bodies as the pilgrimage funds (Lembaga Tabung Haji) and the military pension funds (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera).
Pembantu kanan jabatan pembangunan sukan kementerian itu, Saipuddin Zakaria berkata, insiden itu bagaimanapun menyebabkan empat lelaki berusia antara 18 hingga 30 tahun dimasukkan ke dalam wad.
