Suaram being investigated under the Sedition Act

Suaram secretariat member Cynthia Gabriel was served a summons by the police to give a statement on Wednesday to facilitate investigations under the Sedition Act.

Cynthia told The Malaysian Insider today that Suaram is being investigated in connection with a fund-raising dinner it held two weeks ago.

The dinner, which was attended by 750 people, was held to raise funds for the on-going inquiry in France, where startling revelations about Malaysian’s purchase of Scorpene submarines have emerged.

Cynthia was served with the summons this afternoon in Petaling Jaya. Her lawyers, Derek Fernandez and Jayaseelan Anthony, were also present.

“This is another round of harassment for Suaram,” she said.

“They are taking action against the whistle blower (Suaram) who is calling out for transparency in the Scorpene deal.

“We are the complainant. We initiated the probe in France and because we had revealed information that Malaysians did not hear of before, we are now being investigated.”

Cynthia said the police should be investigating the complaint and not the complainant.

Present at the dinner was Americk Singh, who was the lawyer for the late private investigator P. Balasubramaniam.

Balasubramanian, or PI Bala as he was known, was hired by political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda to deal with Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu when she was in Malaysia in 2006.

Americk told the dinner audience that the two bodyguards of the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak found guilty of Altantuya’s murder in 2006, were scapegoats.

Although Abdul Razak was jointly charged with for the murder with the policemen, he was acquitted without his defence called.

The human rights group had filed a suit against French-based naval defence firm DCNS, for allegedly paying €114.9 million (RM452 million) in illegal commissions to Perimekar Sdn Bhd, which is partly owned by Abdul Razak, a close confidante of Najib.