Long wait for submarine scandal truth to surface?

If similar corruption cases involving French defence giant DCN (formerly Direction des Constructions Navales) are to be a yardstick, it will be years before the truth behind Malaysia’s submarine scandal finally surfaces.

According to Joseph Breham , a member of a French legal team that filed complaints in a Paris court in connection with the RM3.7 billion scandal, a similar inquiry involving the Taiwanese government has been ongoing for ten years.

Breham was in Kuala Lumpur on a two-day fact-finding mission on behalf of human rights NGO Suaram, to investigate DCN’s sale three submarines to Malaysia in 2001.

The French lawyer, part of a three-man team, however, kept mum when pressed for details by reporters at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, claiming “professional secrecy.”

Breham said French public prosecutors had opened a preliminary inquiry on the matter in early March following a complaint first lodged on Dec 4 last year.

Under the French judicial system, a complaint on credible grounds will lead to a prosecutor opening a preliminary inquiry to obtain more evidence.

If the evidence found is sufficient, the matter will be passed onto an ‘instruction judge’ who will make a deeper inquiry, after which it goes to trial.

The Taiwanese case has been stuck at the second level of inquiry for 10 years while its preliminary inquiry lasted over one year, said Breham.

Malaysians can claim immunity

When asked, he said that Malaysian officials can be called to provide statements for the inquiry but they can avoid doing so by claiming diplomatic immunity.

They can also claim the same if found guilty of providing kickbacks to the French defence company.

“In Malaysia, nothing can happen if the (Malaysian courts) do not enforce the (French courts’) decision,” he said.

However, he said those found guilty may not be able to travel to countries that are signatories of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Once the guilty parties set foot in these countries, he said, the French officials will be able to place a request for their extradition.

Interestingly, Malaysia is party to the convention which it ratified in 2008.

Asked about the legal costs involved, Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said the French legal firm, which specialises in corruption and human rights cases, is charging minimal fees as the lawyers are also part of an international human rights civil society network.

“Suaram has a wide international network […] and we found that lawyers were already working on similar cases,” she said.

Suaram may lodge report

She added that Suaram will consider lodging a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission depending on the findings of the preliminary inquiry by the French prosecutors.

The Malaysian submarine scandal is one of several similar cases involving DCN naval equipment sales currently being probed by French judges following allegations of bribery and kickbacks.

Besides Taiwan, which bought naval ships from DCN, probes are also being made into the company’s deals with the governments of Pakistan and India.

The Malaysian allegations revolve around a RM482 million payment made by Malaysian company Perimekar for alleged ‘support services’ involving the sale of the submarines.

Perimekar is owned by KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd which is controlled by Razak Baginda, a close associate of the wife of prime minister and then defence minister Najib Abdul Razak, now prime minister.

The case attracted media scrutiny when Razak was linked to the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, a Mongolian translator who had accompanied him to France to seal the submarine deals.

Aidila Razak/Mkini