Najib sent fax asking US$ 1bil for Baginda, says Suaram, but will MACC initiate probe?

Local human rights movement Suara Rakyat Malaysia, which successfully initiated a French investigation into alleged kickbacks linked to Malaysia's purchase of the Scorpene submarines and the brutal murder of Mongolian citizen Altantuya Shaariibuu, has urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe following an explosive revelation involving the prime minister.

Earlier, Suaram revealed that French public prosecutors had evidence in the form of a fax page dated June 1, 2001, in which Najib Razak, the then Defence minister, sought a payment of US$1 billion for Perimekar, a company owned by Abdul Razak Baginda.

Razak had been acquitted of a charge of murdering Altantuya, with whom he said he had an affair.

It was claimed that Altantuya's murder had to do with unpaid kickbacks owed to her from the Scorpene deal. This, according to a private detective hired by Razak, was said to be the reason why Altantuya had been hounding Razak at his office in the days leading to her brutal murder, before she was bungled up into a car by policemen closely linked to the prime minister's security apparatus.

In the fax, sent from Francois Dupont, the Malaysian representative for French-based security provider Thales Asia International, to D Arnaud, Najib was mentioned as requesting the money as a condition for a meeting in July 2001.

The document is one of 153 documents seized in May 2010 by French police from the office of Henri Gide, an officer for Thales.

The document is said to contain a chronology of visits and action items for Dupont during his visit to Malaysia, which included "meetings with the Ministry of Defence and the management members of Perimekar”.

Suaram said the MACC must launch an immediate investigation into the French prosecutors’ revelation and urged the government to cooperate with the French inquiry.

Suaram also called on the Defence ministry to come clean in Parliament on the alleged commissions paid as well as companies involved in the submarine purchase scandal.

-Harakahdaily