Written by Stan Lee, published by Malaysia Chronicle on 9 October 2012.
It looks like Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Umno party are pulling out all stops to convince Malaysians that the Scorpenes corruption trial in Paris is a mere figment of the Opposition's imagination.
With the 13th general election looming and the stakes high, resolving the public perception that Najib had pocketed a massive illicit kickback is a necessity if he is to to be assured of a comfortable win over arch rival Anwar Ibrahim, who leads Malaysia's Pakatan Rakyat opposition front.
On Monday, quoting a 'prominent' French Government prosecutor Yves Charpenel, national news agency Bernama reported that Yves had denied there was an 'ongoing trial in France'. "I am aware about all the fuss kicked up by certain media (organisations) in Malaysia over this matter but what I can say is that this is nothing more than a trial by the media," Bernama reported Yves as saying. "A trial is a trial with all the rules. Investigation is another thing."
Contradictory
Whether Yves was accurately quoted and reported in the right context remains to be seen. However, William Bourdon, the French lawyer acting for Malaysian NGO SUARAM has debunked the Bernama report.
"Yves Charpenel's statement is absolutely contradictory with the current investigations. The Tribunal deGrande Instance has convened a criminal inquiry of which SUARAM has been accepted as a civil party since March 2012," Bourdon, who was deported from Malaysia when he came to brief his client last year, said in a statement released by SUARAM late on Monday night.
"Upon completion of the inquiry will the investigating judge make the decision of whether the case goes to full trial. It's the investigating judge that makes the decisions not the prosecutor. To our knowledge the current prosecutors in charge of the case have not made any such statements as suggested by Charpenel. The two Judges, Roger Le Loire and Serge Tournaire continue their investigations on the Scorpene inquiry”.
Najib and the Umno-led federal government had hammered through a RM7.3 billion purchase of 2 Scorpene submarines from DCNS in 2002 despite public protest that the ships were unsuitable for the shallow local waters. There was also uneasiness over the exorbitant price tag.
In 2010, SUARAM lodged a complaint with the French authorities, resulting in the current investigative trial against DCNS. The French naval giant is believed to have paid Najib and his Umno party an illegal kickback worth at least 114 million euros to secure the sale of the two submarines to the Malaysian government. The payment was allegedly made through a firm controlled by Najib's close friend Razak Baginda.
Guilty conscience? Why so SCARED?
The Umno-controlled press has repeatedly insisted that there was no proof of any wrongdoing but Najib and his administration have failed to convince Malaysians, largely because they kept rebuffing all efforts by civil society groups to hold a public inquiry.
The latest attempt to make Najib and Umno account for the murky deal is an invitation by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to the lawyers of both Suaram and DCNS to come to Kuala Lumpur and brief the Malaysian Parliament on the case.
"I refer to the above ongoing judicial inquiry at the Tribunal De Grande Instance in Paris presided over by Judge Roger Le Loire and Judge Serge Tournaire into the complaint by SUARAM. a Malaysian human rights non-governmental organization alleging that corrupt and illegal payments were made by the French suppliers DCNS and Thies and their joint venture company Armaris to Malaysian citizens and officials in relation to the purchase of the submarines in 2002 which were at the material time authorized by the then Malaysian Defence Minister and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. where payments of up to 700 milliom ringgit were received by companies (Perimekar Sdn Bhd and Terasasi) owned by his adviser and close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda," Anwar wrote in his letter dated October 2, 2012.
"I am informed that you are representing the interest of DCNS in the above inquiry. As Leader of Opposition in the Malaysian Parliament. 1 have on this same date issued an invitation to the lawyers acting for SUARAM viz Messieurs William Bourdon and Joseph Breham to deliver a briefing on the status and development of the inquiry to interested Malaysian Members of Parliament during this current session of the Malaysian Parliament which will run until 22" November 2012. I will be inviting all members of the Malaysian Parliament to attend this briefing. As the allegations are in respect of the conduct of DCNS. I am of the view that it is appropriate that you are also invited to attend in order that interested Members of Parliament may also hear from DCNS."
Najib's penchant for false public relations and media spin
However, Defense Minister Zahid Hamidi has been quick to object to the invitation on the grounds that the acquisition had followed "legal procedure". Umno-linked groups too have rushed to shoot down Anwar's invite, rather illogically accusing him of trying to sabotage the nation by inviting "foreign interference" in domestic affairs.
In response, opposition leaders have expressed disappointment and concern over the "desperation" revealed by Najib, accusing him of doubletalk as he had just last week vowed to rid Malaysia of corruption and even donated RM1 million to the Vienna-based International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA).
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating. If Najib and Umno are innocent, let the lawyers from both sides - DCNS as well as SUARAM - come to Malaysia and clarify everything to Parliament. But obviously, this is what Najib and Umno fear most. Their reaction is very revealing," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
"As for the Bernama report, they could have twisted Yves Charpenel's comment - we don't know. But what we do know is that in the wake of the Bersih 3.0 rally in April, the Umno-controlled media tried to discredit Australian Senator Nick Xenophon by accusing him of describing Islam as a criminal organisation rather than a religion. Then there is Najib's contract with FBC Media and US poison blogger Josh Trevino. The fact is Najib has the worst record of abusing the media than any other leader. He has given Malaysia a really bad name overseas. Let's see if the Yves Charpenel report will blow up in his face."
Investigative trial stage: Different system, witnesses will be subpoenaed
Tian was referring to Xenophon, a member of the international observer team invited by Bersih to assess if its demands for electoral reform were reasonable. The Australian leader had expressed shock at the Malaysian police brutality towards peaceful Bersih protesters during the April 28 demonstration for clean polls.
For his chiding comments, the Umno-owned NST had deliberately misquoted a speech he made to the Australian Parliament back in 2009. In fact, Xenophon had not referred at all to Islam, but had instead been criticizing Scientologists and their money-raising tactics. The newspaper just substituted the word Islam instead of Scientologist.
As for UK-based consultancy FBC Media and blogger Josh Trevino, both have been disgraced and dropped by various top international media including BBC and the Guardian for not disclosing they had underlying deals to churn out false positive publicity for Najib and Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.
Indeed, going through the latest Bernama report and the Yves Charpenel quotes, it is evident that all the French prosecutor may have said was that the Scorpenes case had not gone into FULL trial yet but was still at the investigative trial stage.
This is actually in line with all the disclosures made by Bourdon and SUARAM so far. In fact, SUARAM has made it very clear that what was now taking place was an investigative trial, overseen by 2 investigative judges. The French judiciary system is different from the British, on which Malaysia's own legal system is based.
Sinking with Najib & the Scorpenes
Industry practitioners question whether Bernama had led Yves on by asking whether a full trial was now ongoing. Hence his denial. The Malaysian news agency could then have written up its report to highlight Yves' denial, but deliberately omitting to put into full context his statement.
But as Bourdon pointed out, the investigative trial is in full swing and the first witness already subpoenaed to take the stand to answer all the queries the investigative judges wish to make on the case.
Apart from Najib's foreign media consultants and the NST, Bernama too has attracted controversy of late. Just weeks ago, it was forced to deny it had 'doctored' photos depicting a much larger crowd at Najib's recent Hari Raya open house so as to give the impression that the PM was more popular that he really is.
However, due to the angry reaction of the Malaysian public and the slew of 'photo-shop mistakes' pointed out by netizens, Bernama's chief editor had no choice but to finally admit the photos had indeed been "tampered" with.
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