THE Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should investigate the 2002 Scorpene submarine corruption case and the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu following the charging of the Frenchs company Thales by the French government for complicity in bribery of the Scorpene submarine deal in Malaysia, two decades ago.
PAC can act under Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders 77(d), which provides that the PAC can examine “(d) such other matters as the Committee may think fit, or which may be referred to the Committee by the House.”
This is the second case where a foreign jurisdiction have found a grand corruption scandal in Malaysia where former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker, Roger Ng Chong Hwa was convicted on April 8 in the US on three counts of foreign bribery in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) but not in Malaysia.
Four years ago, I had said that “the ghost of Altantunya will continue to haunt former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Malaysia until there is full and satisfactory investigation as to the motive for the heinous murder of the Mongolian and the real murders brought to justice”.
It does no honour or dignity to Malaysia that the website of the World Peace Foundation of the Tufts University has an item of “The Malaysian Scorpene Submarine Affair” which led off with the following two paragraphs:
“The EUR 1.2 bil sale of French ‘Scorpène’ submarines to Malaysia in 2002, and the dubious commissions which accompanied the sale, might have gone unnoticed were it not for the kidnap and murder of a young translator in 2006. The victim, who had worked for a key agent on the deal, was targeted when she attempted to get her share of the commissions. The subsequent murder trial implicated members of the domestic police’s special intelligence branch, who may have served the defense minister and future prime minister Najib Razak as bodyguards.
“With investigations in Malaysia stymied by the political implications, momentum shifted to France. DCNS, the French shipbuilding company, was raided in 2010, and it eventually became clear that the company was under scrutiny for operating a chain of intermediaries to bribe Razak and the agent, Abdul Razak Baginda, in violation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Bribery and its corresponding law in France.”
With the latest developments on Malaysia’s 2002 purchase of the Scorpene submarines in France, the PAC has the opportunity to clear Malaysia’s name and dignity with an investigation into the 2002 purchase of the Scorpene submarines and the murder of Altantuya. – April 28, 2022.
Lim Kit Siang is the MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
