PETALING JAYA: The Scorpene submarine scandal which has dogged the Malaysian political landscape for almost a decade now is the target of a judicial inquiry in France.
The French courts last week decided that new evidence unearthed by public prosecutors acting for human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) contained sufficient grounds for an official investigation under the country’s laws.
“The courts in Paris have decided that there is sufficient prima facie evidence for an official inquiry to be opened,” said Suaram executive director Cynthia Gabriel here on Sunday.
She added that among new evidence in the possession of the French Public Prosecutor’s office were records and other commission payments, travel invoices and vouchers made during the procurement of three submarines – two Scorpene and one Agosta class submersibles.
She said the “unprecedented” evidence would shed light on how much and what forms of commission payments were made to intermediaries or government officials here in Malaysia for the purchase of the submarines.
She explained that initial investigations by the prosecutor’s office had turned up “other names”, individuals who had acted as go-betweens and brokers for the deal that was alleged to have cost some E114 million in kickbacks payments.
The names included officials in France and also Malaysia.
“We are not at liberty to divulge the names now; they will have to remain unidentified for now,” Cynthia said.
The non governmental organisation (NGO), in December 2009, filed a civil suit against French submarine maker DCNS – then DCN - for allegedly paying millions in kickbacks to a Malaysian company.
The company, Perimekar, is claimed to be the local intermediary that routed the kickbacks to Malaysian officials.
The RM7.3 billion purchases in 2002, was inked after France ratified the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention (in 2000) which makes parties involved in corruption of foreign government officials liable to 10 years imprisonment and a €150,000 fine.
French investigations of alleged kickbacks in 2008 pointed to DCNS having allegedly paid the money, through intermediaries, to unidentified Malaysian officials via Perimekar.
Two judges, Roger Le Loire and Serge Tournaire, have been tapped to head the inquiry in the Tribunal de Grande Instance, a high-level court in France that deals with civil litigation cases.
“On March 16, we heard from our lawyers that the case has been officially registered with the French judicial system and will now be heard before a court,” said Cynthia.
She pointed out that Suaram had no other recourse but to file the case in a French court due to Malaysia’s repressive Official Secrets Act which kept the procurement details of the submarines “top secret”.
The rights group filed the case against DCNS in December 2009 at the Paris courts, citing “active and passive corruption, trading of favours and abuse of corporate assets”.
Cynthia said the Petaling Jaya-based rights group - as plaintiffs – would have to be present at the inquiry to give an account and to provide testimony in the case.
She added that Suaram would gain access to the case files through their French lawyers, William Bourdon and Joseph Breham.
According to lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, the inquiry might also result in defence ministry officials being subpoenaed by the French court to give their testimony in the case.
Fadiah, who is Suaram’s lawyer coordinating the case here, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could likely be the person who might be called by the courts to provide testimony on the matter.
However, she said Zahid could choose to ignore the summonses from a foreign court if he so chose to as the French courts could not compel him to provide testimony.
The case has cost Suaram some E18,000 in legal fees, so far, since they hired the lawyers last October to pursue the suit.
It also cost the NGO some E1,000 to file the hearing in the French courts.
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