After a wait of almost four years, the case of Scorpene submarines sold to Malaysia by a French company that is being investigated has resurfaced, with a key personnel being indicted for paying illegal kickbacks to an official closely linked to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
French newswire AFP reported today that a first indictment was issued against the former boss of an international subsidiary of Thales, the French company that is alleged to have paid the commissions to the Malaysian official.
According to AFP, Bernard Baiocco, 72, former president of Thales International Asia (Thint Asia), was indicted on Dec 15 last year for "active bribery of foreign public officials linked to Najib Razak ", who was at the time the defence minister.
The report named former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who is no longer in Malaysia, as the person who allegedly received the kickback.
The government on June 5, 2002, sealed a deal costing RM3.7 billion (1.035 billion euro) with European shipbuilders DCN International to buy three French submarines to establish its first fleet of submarines.
When contacted, Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism director Cynthia Gabriel - who was one of the central figures in the suit on the Scorpene submarines deal filed by human rights NGO Suaram in the French court - said “this is the moment we have been waiting for”.
Cynthia (photo) added: “We feel very encouraged and happy to hear case has moved forward and that French investigations have arrived on a very important finding and a key French official has been formally indicted.
“He would have to defend himself in court and all the purchases linked to the Scorpene submarines will now be in public domain.
“With Razak Baginda named, there is a direct link to Malaysia and the question now is whether Razak will be called to testify. Our lawyers in Paris said this case will now move into a full-blown trial, and there may be more individuals indicted.”
Suaram, she added, would organise a press conference on the matter soon.
The report comes soon after attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of corruption charges involving 1MDB and the controversies surrounding the RM2.6 billion deposited in his private bank accounts before the 2013 general election.
Razak, a close friend of Najib, was charged in court as an accomplice in the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was killed in 2006 by two former bodyguards of Najib. However, he was released without his defence being called.
The Malaysian government has always defended itself that the Scorpene purchases were done above board and according to procedures.
Meanwhile, the AFP report in French, a translation of which was obtained by Malaysiakini, states that after 48 hours in police custody, Baiocco and a director of shipbuilder DCN International were also indicted for “complicity in misuse of corporate assets”.
DCN first came into focus when Suaram directors, including Gabriel, started a preliminary inquiry into the Scorpene deal by Malaysia, as a judicial investigation was opened in Paris in 2012.
Documents seized from Thales and DCN
French prosecutors then searched the Thales and DCN offices and seized several documents related to the transaction of the Scorpene submarines.
Malaysia inked the deal with the companies in 2002, at a time the European community’s Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tightened controls on bribery and the paying of commissions to government officials.
The AFP report said investigations showed that Malaysian company Terasasi, whose main shareholder was the adviser to Najib on the submarine purchase, had allegedly received millions for “consultations”.
“Investigators suspect the consultations as being a front for the bribes,” the AFP says.
Another contract, providing for the payment by Malaysia to a local company, Perimekar, which amounted to RM7.3 million or 1.614 million euros at the current exhcnage rate, interested judges but escaped investigation because the facts of the matter did not take place in France, the news report added.
In May 2012, Suaram revealed at a press conference that it had gathered evidence of Najib having sought US$1 billion (RM3 billion then) for local company Perimekar from DCN's subsidiary, DCNI.
Suaram’s statement was then based on prosecution papers, including a copy of a fax dated June 1, 2001, which revealed that Najib had asked for the amount for Perimekar as a condition for a meeting with him on July 14, 2001.
The fax was from Francois Dupont, the Malaysian representative for private company Thales Asia International, to one D Arnaud.
The fax is one of 153 documents shown to Suaram, which was seized by French police from the office of Henri Gide, an officer with Thales.
Malaysiakini is contacting Najib and Razak Baginda for their comments. -Mkini
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