NO ESCAPE FOR NAJIB: French JUDGES may come to KL to probe Scorpene deal

French investigative judges may come to investigation-shy Malaysia to probe the controversial RM7.3 billion procurement of two Scorpene submarines from naval arms vendor DCNS if Malaysian officials including Prime Minister Najib Razak refuses to co-operate or take the witness stand in Paris.

Apoline Cagnat, a French lawyer appointed by SUARAM, confirmed this, adding that Najib was a "priority witness" and could be arrested by the French authorities if he chose to ignore any subpoena issued by the Parisian courts.

"This could definitely happen in the Scorpene case if the judges have enough evidence to issue such a warrant," Cagnat told a press conference in Singapore.

"They (the French judges) can ask for cooperation (from Putrajaya). They can also come. It is up to them. Sometimes they come, sometimes they send police. It is possible."

Deported & safety UN-ASSURED

Cagnat and her colleagues, including William Bourdon and Joseph Breham, were invited by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to brief the Malaysian Parliament on the latest in the Scorpene case which is now being heard by a French investigative judge.

However, due to the Najib administration's refusal to assure their safety or to promise not to deport them on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, they decided to hold the briefing in Singapore.

In July 2011, Najib had raised international eyebrows when he deported Bourdon when the latter came to Kuala Lumpur to brief Suaram and speak at a dinner fundraiser. Earlier this year, Breham was forced to hold a press conference in Bangkok after having failed to get the all clear from Putrajaya.

And now, it appears that Najib's Umno party has begun lashing out at the Singapore government, accusing it of interfering in Malaysia's domestic matters by allowing the press conference to be held on its soil.

“This clearly shows Singapore is interfering in our country’s affairs,” Mohd Ali Rustam, a former Umno vice-president was reported as saying by  Malaysian Insider.

Desperate to whitewash bribery accusations

Ironically, Ali Rustam was publicly punished by his own party for practising money politics or giving cash and gifts to divisional leaders to vote for him during the 2008 party polls. Just weeks ago, Ali came under the corruption spotlight again - this time, he was grilled as to where he could find the funds to host a super-lavish wedding reception, the country's largest ever, for his son on just his Malacca Chief Minister's remuneration alone.

Not surprisingly, Ali's comments sparked derision from his rivals in the Opposition.

"What else is new? To save its own skin, Umno will racialize even the Scorpenes corruption case. It will try to whitewash its own role and Najib's in the submarines procurement," PKR vice president and MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"If the Umno bigwigs are innocent and did not take bribes from DCNS in exchange for agreeing to buy the submarines, why are they deporting the French lawyers, threatening to ban SUARAM and accusing everyone of trying to wrest control of the Malaysian government. First, it was George Soros and the Jews using SUARAM, now it is Singapore and the Chiese trying to topple the Malays. But in actual fact, all the while it is corruption by the Umno elite plain and simple and they are trying to pull wool over the people's eyes." 

Other Members of Parliament who had gone for briefing in Singapore were Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, Kuala Krai MP Hatta Ramli, Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo-Burne, Subang MP R Sivarasa and Teluk Kemang MP Kamarul Baharin Abbas.

Trying to ESCAPE

When asked by the MPs to comment on Putrajaya's argument that the submarine procurement is strictly a state-to-state deal that does not involve the payment of commission to private companies, Cagnat had also replied that the Najib administration was "trying to escape" the inquiry but the evidence showed otherwise.

She named the 7 witnesses submitted by Suaram and accepted by the French court and pointed out that Najib and his close friend Razak Baginda were the most important on the list.

To stress her point, Cagnat also highlighted the recent issuance of an arrest warrant for Equatorial Guinea Agriculture Minister Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the son of the president, in connection to a corruption case. This shows the same could happen to Najib, she said.

The other five witnesses are Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi; Setev Shaariibuu, the father of murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu; private investigator P Balasubramaniam; Boustead Holdings Bhd group managing director and deputy chairperson Lodin Wok Kamaruddin; Jasbir Singh Chahl, reported to be Baginda's right-hand man.

“I hope the judges manage to interrogate them,” Cagnat.

Another NGO will TAKE OVER

Cagnat also said that even if the Najib administration succeeded in declaring SUARAM illegal and that the NGO loses its status as a civil plaintiff, that would not stop the French judges from pursuing the case.

Meanwhile, SUARAM secretariat member Cynthia Gabriel, who chaired the press conference, said her NGO was now holding discussions with other Malaysian NGOs to take over its role in spearheading the corruption trial in the event that SUARAM was declared illegal.

One of the NGOs is Transparency International-Malaysia, revealed Cynthia. SUARAM has come under fire from the Najib administration. Its offices have been raided, it has been accused of not keeping proper accounts and its status as an NGO queried.

SUARAM was also lambasted by Umno for taking funding from the Open Society, a pro-democracy organization founded by Jewish billionaire George Soros who has often been used as a bogeyman by the Umno elite including former premier Mahathir Mohamad to justify claims that Malaysia would lose its 'sovereignty' if the Opposition came to power..

Malaysia Chronicle