Gov't keen to dive into Scorpene case, says Chin Tong

The Malaysian government wants to help facilitate the hearing of ongoing cases in France linked to the Scorpene submarines scandal, said deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament today, Liew confirmed he had met two French lawyers engaged by NGO Suaram who will file a legal suit in France over Malaysia's controversial purchase of two Scorpene submarines in 2002.

"Yes, they came. We are hoping that Malaysia can do more in order to facilitate the cases in France.

"We are looking at the cases in the French courts at the moment," said Liew, adding he could not reveal further details of their meeting.

Malaysiakini previously reported that the two French lawyers - William Bourdon, who was previously blacklisted from entering the country by the BN administration, and his colleague Apoline Cagnat - were in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 10 to 12.

At the time, it was reported that they had met with Attorney-General Tommy Thomas over the controversial Scorpene deal for which top Malaysian officials were accused of receiving millions in kickbacks from European shipbuilders DCNS and Thales.

"At the moment, this Scorpene case is being investigated by the MACC.

So it's no longer within the purview of the defence ministry. It's being handled by the MACC," Liew said.

In July 2017, the French courts had indicted political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of then-defence minister Najib Abdul Razak who oversaw the purchase of the submarines from Thales and DCNS in 2002.

Suaram's civil suit had led to the indictment of several officers from the shipbuilders' company for allegedly paying the kickbacks.

On a related matter, Liew said the Defence White Paper due to be tabled on Parliament this year was partly to address issues of corruption in the past, including during various asset procurements.

"That is one of the many reasons why we were given this mandate. The idea is to provide policy direction so that we will have a clearer idea of what are the strategic challenges we are facing.

"If we understand the strategic outlook, then we can come to the next stage to decide the direction of procurements," he said.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu previously said the white paper which outlines the Malaysian Armed Forces’ (MAF) current capabilities and development plan was expected to be tabled in September.

Among others, Mohamad said the white paper was drafted using guidelines from Japan, New Zealand and Australia to further strengthen the country’s military system. - Mkini