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Abdul Razak Baginda had advised Prime Minister Najib Razak when he was defence minister between 2000 and 2008 over the deals.
Najib oversaw the deal, worth nearly €1 billion (RM5 billion), to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta-class submarine from French naval dockyards unit DCN, which is linked to French defence group Thales.
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/9373/
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19 November 2018
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https://twitter.com/esshankar1/status/1064535131187175426
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 5): Abdul Razak Baginda, the political analyst acquitted of abetting in the 2006 murder of Mongolian citizen Altantuya Shaariibuu, said he received €30 million (RM137 million) as consultation fee in Malaysia’s purchase of two Scorpene submarines from France, the Financial Times (FT) reports.
“It was a legitimate agreement. I did my job and I got paid for it. And I never paid any official,” the former aide of Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted by FT as saying, adding that the deal’s execution spanned eight years.
Najib was defence minister at the time of the US$1.2 billion arms deal, which has been riddled with allegations of corruption and kickbacks.
Razak’s confirmation comes as French prosecutors launched a formal probe into Najib, a week after it opened a case against Bernard Baiocco, the former president of Thales International Asia, who together with another French defence firm DCNS, had sold the submarines to Malaysia.
The French investigation centres around allegations that Baiocco paid kickbacks to Najib through Razak.
Baiocco’s lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne confirmed to FT that Razak got payment for lobbying work in the US$1.2 billion arms deals, but denied it was corruption, adding that prosecutors had no proof to show Najib received the payment.
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In May 2018, former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram urged the authorities to re-open the probe into the Scorpene deal.
He said it is necessary to relook into the purported kickbacks in the case owing to the other allegations related to it.
“This includes the handing over of suitcases of cash, coupled with a spending spree in Paris as well as the dastardly murder of Altantuya.
“One may well ask why former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail did not secure the arrest and detention of two police officers pending the public prosecutor’s appeal to the Federal Court,” he added.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/452543
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EXCLUSIVE | MACC has re-opened its investigations into the purchase of two Scorpene-class submarines when former premier Najib Abdul Razak was the defence minister.
Sources told Malaysiakini this was the reason Najib was summoned to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya this morning.
“The case has been reopened,” said a high-ranking MACC officer, who declined to be named.
Sources said investigators working on the case in which kickbacks were allegedly paid for the purchase of the submarines from France in 2002, might also call in others to facilitate the probe.
This, according to one of the sources, includes Najib’s former close associate Abdul Razak Baginda.
The submarines, which were purchased by Malaysia to beef up the Royal Malaysian Navy’s fleet, had been named KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak with the former having arrived in Malaysia in September 2009 followed by the latter in July 2010.
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Media reports stated that Najib arrived at the MACC headquarters about 9.30am to facilitate investigation over an unspecified case.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/452543
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21 March 2018
Lest we forget – The Scorpene corruption scandal
https://c4center.org/scorpene-scandal-factsheet-ready-download …
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3 August 2017
malaysiakini.comVerified account @malaysiakini
French lawyer confirms Razak Baginda indicted on July 18
Prominent French human rights lawyer William Bourdon has confirmed that Abdul Razak Baginda has been indicted in Paris over alleged kickbacks in the sales of submarines to Malaysia.
Bourdon, the lawyer handling the Scorpene case in Paris, said news report about Abdul Razak, a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, was recently indicted in France, was not misleading.
“I can confirm that Abdul Razak has been indicted on July 18 for the complicity of passive and active corruption, and recel d’abus de biens sociaux,” Bourdon told Malaysiakini when contacted.
The French words translate to “abuse of corporate assets” in English.
“This (the July 18 indictment) is an important step for our case,” added the lawyer, who was hired by Malaysian human rights NGO Suaram when they filed the case in France in 2009.
Asked if Abdul Razak would have to appear in a French court to face a charge, Bourdon said: “He has to respond to the judge’s 11-page judgement”.
As to when it would happen, Bourdon declined to comment, saying that he would have to wait for precise information, which he will obtain from the judges after the summer holidays.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/390732
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2 August 2017
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TheMalaysianInsightVerified account @msianinsight
Submarine purchase never discussed in Cabinet, says Dr Mahathir
THE purchase of the Scorpene submarines was never discussed in Cabinet, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding that he would have opposed it.
He told The Malaysian Insight this was because the submarines were too expensive and not meant to operate in shallow waters, especially in the Straits of Malacca.
“I never wanted to buy the submarines because we couldn’t use them. We can’t use submarines in the Straits of Malacca.
“And, we didn’t have the money. The cost was high.
“But suddenly, after I resigned, I found that the defence minister had made an order for two submarines.
“The decision was probably made when I was prime minister, but I was not informed of it.”
Dr Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003. The submarines were purchased in June 2002 when Najib Razak was defence minister.
https://wordpress.com/post/weehingthong.org/102960
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TheMalaysianInsightVerified account @msianinsight
I have not been charged in any court of law, says Razak Baginda
ABDUL Razak Baginda stood his ground last night and insisted he has not committed any crime of corruption or breached any laws in relation to the Scorpene submarine deals.
In a statement issued late last night, Razak said he has not been charged in any court of law in France.
“French news reports have stated that individuals in the purchase of the submarines have been charged. These reports are misleading,” he said.
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/9373/
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TheMalaysianInsightVerified account @msianinsight
Probe Razak Baginda here over Scorpene deal, civil society groups, politicians say
MALAYSIAN authorities who choose to ignore the Scorpene submarine deal, especially after Abdul Razak Baginda was charged with graft in France, would be deemed to be under the thumb of Putrajaya, civil society groups and a politician said.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must investigate the case immediately, they said, adding that it would look odd and shameful if Malaysia did not take action while France had proceeded to charge several people.
The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said there should be no more excuses from the Malaysian authorities anymore.
“The MACC must open investigations now. No more excuses as we repeat our call for the Attorney-General (Mohamed Apandi Ali) to cooperate with the French prosecutors to resolve the case, and bring to book the culprits,” Gabriel told The Malaysian Insight.
She said Prime Minister Najib Razak must also answer questions raised on the Scorpene submarine deal as he was defence minister at that time.
“The matter must be brought to Parliament. If the investigations are not done then it will show that the authorities are not independent as they claim.”
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/9372/
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1 August 2017
TheMalaysianInsightVerified account @msianinsight
France charges Razak Baginda with graft over Scorpene deal
A CLOSE associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak has been charged in France over alleged kickbacks in the 2002 sale of submarines to Malaysia, a judicial source told AFP today.
Abdul Razak Baginda advised Najib when the prime minister was defence minister between 2000 and 2008.
Najib oversaw the deal, worth nearly €1 billion (RM5 billion), to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta-class submarine from French naval dockyards unit DCN, which is linked to French defence group Thales.
An investigation into the deal was launched in 2010, in response to a complaint from Malaysian rights group Suaram.
As part of the deal, DCN agreed to pay €30 million to Thales’ Asian unit, Thales International Asia (Thint Asia).
The investigation revealed that another company, Terasasi, whose main shareholder was Razak, received an equivalent sum for what was billed as consultancy work, but which investigators believe was really a front for kickbacks.
Razak was charged in France on July 18 with “active and passive complicity in corruption” and “misappropriation of corporate assets”, the French judicial source said.
Four French defence industry executives have been charged since the investigation began.
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/9350/
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BACKGROUND
Troubles resurface for Malaysia’s Najib in Europe
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
A case involving allegations of high-level bribery, blackmail, betrayal and the murder of a glamorous Mongolian socialite in Malaysia has resurfaced in France, only days after Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak was cleared of corruption charges at home.
French prosecutors have charged a French businessman involved in Malaysia’s $US2 billion ($2.8 billion) purchase of two French-Spanish built submarines with paying illegal kickbacks to a Malaysian official linked to Mr Najib, according to the French newsagency AFP.
Mr Najib, who was defence minister at the time of the purchase, has denied any wrongdoing but the case has been the subject of hot rumours and speculation in Malaysia’s social media during his seven-year rule.
The French report named Ferrari-driving Malaysian businessman Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Mr Najib’s best friends and policy advisers, as the person who allegedly received the kickbacks.
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BACKGROUND
While the submarine deal was being negotiated, Mr Baginda was the lover of 28-year-old Mongolian socialite Altantuya Shaariibuu who was murdered by two of Mr Najib’s bodyguards in a patch of jungle in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur in 2006.
Ms Shaariibuu was dragged from a car, knocked unconscious and shot twice in the head, according to court testimony.
She had begged for the life of her unborn baby and then her body was wrapped in C4 explosives and blown up, ensuring the fetus was destroyed, along with the identity of the father.
Ms Shaariibuu, who was abducted outside Mr Baginda’s house, had reportedly demanded $US500,000 to remain silent about her knowledge of the submarine deal.
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In 2008 a Malaysian judge sensationally dropped a charge of abetting murder against Mr Baginda, even before any evidence was heard at his trial.
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Mr Najib’s police commando bodyguards were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death over Ms Shaariibuu’s murder.
One of them, Sirul Azhar Umar, managed to flee to Australia and is now in custody in Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre.
Malaysia has called for his return but Australian law forbids sending suspects back to other countries to face possible execution.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/troubles-resurface-for-malaysias-najib-in-europe-20160130-gmhmn0.html#ixzz3ypsnkdps
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
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Al Jazeera investigates the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu
Altantuya murder: Sirul, our man in OZ…
ALTANTUYA: Killers to hang by the neck until they’re dead!
Malaysian Chronicle video: The night Altantuya was murdered – Americk Sidhu
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