SUARA RAKYAT MALAYSIA (SUARAM) and THE CENTRE TO COMBAT CORRUPTION & CRONYISM (C4 CENTER) congratulate the French magistrates and prosecutors over the indictments of high level persons involved corruption and kickbacks in the purchase of Scorpene Submarines by the Malaysian government in 2002.
This brings to 4 persons who have been already indicted in a long and ongoing probe by French magistrate Roger Le Loire and his team of prosecutors.
Philip Japiot, the former chairman of French naval dockyard DCN International (abuse of social assets) July 2017 and
Jean Paul Perrier former CEO of Thales, (complicity of abuse social assets) July 2017
Two previous indictments
Bernard Baiocco (former President of Asian Division of Thales) (paying bribes to foreign public official) December 2015
Dominique Castellan, former President of DCN International, (€30 million. Kickbacks transferred to Terasasi Hong Kong in November 2002).
Abdul Razak Baginda has been identified as the beneficial owner of Terasasi Hong Kong, having joint shareholding in the company with his father. Razak was instrumental in getting the Scorpene deal negotiated for the Malaysian government, being the adviser to then Defence Minister Najib Razak.
We understand from our French lawyers that several more indictments are expected, before the probe wraps up and is brought before an open court.
We are vindicated by these developments, despite the lengthy probe, now having reached 5 years since the investigations opened in 2012 following a judicial complaint by Suaram.
The previous assertions by the Malaysian governments that the procurement of the two submarines were above board appear callously false. The additional two indictments this week confirm our long held fears that grand corruption involving millions of dollars, has been committed via the procurement of this deal.
We strongly urge:
That the Attorney General, Munhamed Apandi Ali reopen the case initiated by the MACC back in 2012, and allow the Mutual Legal Assistance as requested by France, to connect the dots and resolve the longstanding case once and for all. This commitment towards international cooperation as enshrined in the UN Anti Corruption Convention (UNCAC) and ratified by Malaysia in 2008, must be respected and its obligations met.
Abdul Razak Baginda, the chief negotiator of the arms deal, now at the centre of the French probe, must offer his fullest cooperation to the French prosecution team, and the MACC to clarify his role and clear his name once and for all. It is no longer an option to remain silent and hope the case will go away.
PM Najib Razak, who was then Defence Minister in 2002, to be courageous enough to explain at the coming Parliamentary session the various transactions including the alleged kickbacks amounting to Euro 114.9 million, the use of shell companies and clear his name of various corruption allegations.
The Parliament to set up Royal Commission of Inquiry into the corruption on purchase of arms.
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