No knowledge of Scorpene secrets leaked, says Zahid despite133 FRENCH DOCUMENTS

Prime Minister Najib Razak's government denied naval secrets had been sold by his close friend Razak Baginda to French vendor DCNS during Malaysia's controversial acquisition of 2 Scorpene submarines.

But the denial from Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi lacked conviction and he was immediately lambasted by Opposition lawmakers.

"Looking at the way Zahid has couched the ministry's denial, he is merely giving his opinion to the best of his ability. But this is treason. This is not enough. If he is serious, he would have ordered an immediate full-scale investigation into the matter and then make public the findings. That this has not been done shows how suspicious and serious the problem is," PKR MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

No knowledge - Zahid

In a response to a query from PKR MP for Lembah Pantai Nurul Izzah Anwar, the defense minister had told Parliament that no information had been leaked on the evaluation of the RM7.3 billion Scorpene submarines despite court documents claiming the contrary in the ongoing corruption trial in Paris.

“To the best knowledge of the ministry, up to now there is no information detected to have been taken out of Malaysia. The defence ministry has no information on the allegations of so-called secret documents sold by Terasasi (Hong Kong) to Thint Asia (Thales International) said to be worth €36 million (RM142 million),” Zahid said in the august House.

He also denied any knowledge of dealings between the two companies, the latter of which having formed a joint-venture with French defence giant DCNS to build the two vessels, as the government had no dealings with either company in the purchase.

“The statement by the Lembah Pantai MP that the two Scorpene submarines were purchased from Thales International are untrue,” Zahid, who is also the Bagan Datok MP, said.

Enormous pressure

Indeed, there is enormous pressure on the Najib administration over the Scorpenes case as it is Najib himself and his associate Razak Baginda who are the primary suspects in the French trial to determine if DCNS had paid hundreds of millions of euros in illegal kickbacks in order to secure the deal.

Najib was the defense minister who sanctioned the purchase, while Baginda brokered the deal with the French firm. Despite huge public outcry over the exorbitant costs and unsuitability of the subs for Malaysia's shallow coastal waters, Najib's ruling Umno party hammered through the deal.

Despite efforts by the Umno-controlled media to paint the case as a smear campaign to topple Najib, French cops have uncovered evidence from documents seized from DCNS that show that there had indeed been high-level corruption. Top Malaysian officials and Umno were indicated to have benefited from the money trail.

133 court documents - what say you Najib Razak!

Just days ago, 133 of these 'secret' documents being assessed by the French court were leaked to the public (read133 official documents PROVE Scorpenes corruption is REAL: Also closes in on Altantuya ). Click here to view the documents

"There is considerable doubt in Malaysia that these documents actually exist, and that the story of corruption was fabricated by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition. Here is proof that they exist indeed. Readers who speak French may examine them at their leisure," wrote Asia Sentinel which published the documents.

"The documents were sent anonymously to Asia Sentinel because of our persistence in cataloguing the story of the submarines since October 2006, when Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian party girl and translator of sorts, was murdered in a patch of jungle near the suburban city of Shah Alam and her body was blown to bits with C4 explosives."

Altantuya Shaaribuu was the former lover of Razak Baginda who traveled with him during the time of the Scorpene negotiations. She was murdered in Malaysia in 2006 by 2 of Najib's former bodyguards in a trial that US officials based here had commented lacked justice, according to WikiLeaks.

The two bodyguards have been sentenced to hang but the hottest question in Malaysia remains, who ordered them to 'pull the trigger'.

French trial

The French trial came about after Malaysian NGO lodged a complaint against DCNS for corrupt dealing with the Malaysian officials over the Scorpenes purchase.

If found guilty, DCNS may have to compensate the Malaysian people for pricing inflated by the bribes paid to the various officials. It would also heap pressure on the Najib administration to finally call for a public inquiry into the dubious acquisition.

Suaram filed the complain in 2010 after failing to get the local authorities including the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission to take action. A investigative judge was appointed and the Parisian trial began in early April.

Malaysia Chronicle