Despite being acquitted of the gruesome murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, Abdul Razak Baginda may yet be haunted by the saga centred around the RM7 billion purchase of Scorpene submarines from French company DCN.
Even though his former private investigator, P. Balasubramaniam, claimed Abdul Razak was innocent of the murder, French authorities are keen to examine the political analyst’s role.
Balasubramaniam (picture), who was hired by Abdul Razak in October 2006 when Shariibuu began harassing him for money, spent a substantial portion of a three-hour-long interview with French police detailing his former client’s involvement in the affair.
The interview, held on Monday in Paris, is part of investigations into alleged irregularities in the payment of RM570 million to Perimekar, a company owned by Abdul Razak, for what the Malaysian government calls “co-ordination and support services” in clinching the submarine deal.
In the course of the interview, two new names also surfaced — Malaysians identified as Major Rahim and Abdul Rahim bin Saad.
A statement released by Balasubramaniam after the interview said that the investigators wanted to know the identity of the two Malaysians, their background and involvement in the matter.
But the private eye did not detail what, if any, information on the two Rahims he divulged, or if he knew them at all.
Balasubramaniam had, however, talked about Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, the two police officers convicted of Shariibuu’s murder who were also part of then-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s security detail and other people who were around when the Mongolian disappeared on the night of her death.
The former Special Branch officer spoke about “their link to Baginda and Razak Baginda’s relationship with our present PM” as well as other information relayed to him by Abdul Razak, an Oxford graduate said to be a confidante of Najib’s.
The interview also touched on Abdul Razak’s current whereabouts and Balasubramaniam detailed what he knew about payments that his client had made to Shariibuu, including the US$500,000 (RM1.6 million) demanded by her for her part in the successful submarine deal.
Balasubramaniam made his way to Paris after arriving in London for an interview with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the same matter but was then informed that the anti-graft body would merely be sending questions for him to answer.
His lawyers expressed disappointment at the last minute pullout, saying that a “golden opportunity was lost” in which they would have detailed a “conspiracy web that goes to the very highest level”.
comments
This Scorpenegate scandal is actually one of the largest scandals in Malaysia in recent times, second only to BMF scandal. In fact, there is another two related scandals, that of the murder of the Mongolian translator Attantuya and the cover-up of her death. How could UMNO put forward a leader who is so tainted and full of baggage to assume the position of prime minister of Malaysia? Is there no other suitable candidates among the one-million strong UMNO?
Can someone please take one more step into the investigation of this probe: What causing the submarine unable to perform it's normal function, that is diving problem, is it because the crew members were not properly trained, or the components that installed on this submarine are not new, re-condition or overhauled components. I wish some one would look into the history and life span left on each part and component installed on these two submarines, it is not difficult to audit them, because every item has it's serial number stamped on it. Usually when you purchase something, of course customer expects what ever in it must be new and with zero hours at start.
God is great. Hopefully, this case will see the light of day and the real culprits brought to justice. In acquiting Razak, we see the case spinning into a situation where there's a spintail without a spinhead. And it was absolutely ridiculous that such a huge amount (RM570 million) of money was paid as commission to Perimekar which was owned by Razak, a close aide and associate of the PM. On top of this, no action whatsoever was initiated by any of our authorities. always quick to jump into action from the little information on corruption, to probe into the matter. Any right thinking person would smell something fishy with way the authorities were handling it. With the situation so clear for everyone to see, yet, we hear all kind of comments issued to try justifying the inaction of the authorities. Ever heard of the saying that goes - paper can never be used to wrap up the fire?
No comments:
Post a Comment