Corruption

Questions for Najib on the indictment of two French executives in connection with graft over Scorpene submarine sale to Malaysia fifteen years ago in 2002

By Kit

July 19, 2017

I have several questions for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the indictment of two French executives in connection with graft over the Scorpene submarine sale to Malaysia fifteen years ago in 2002.

Firstly, did the Cabinet discuss the subject at its weekly meeting today, as there was ample time for a report on the matter to be made to the Cabinet, and if so, what is the outcome of the Cabinet discussion.

Secondly, are the Attorney-General Chambers, the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Co0rruption Commission re-opening investigations into corruption allegations connected with the French Scorpene submarine sale to Malaysia in 2012, and if not, why not.

Thirdly, if the government can set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the Bank Negara foreign exchange losses some 25 years ago, why is the government not setting up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into corruption allegations in the Scorpene submarine deal fifteen years ago; and if this was because the Prime Minister himself, who was the Defence Minister at the time, would be the subject of investigations into the Scorpene submarine corruption deal?

Is Najib prepared to subject himself to full corruption investigations into the Scorpene submarine deal 15 years ago when he was the Defence Minister?

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported that two French executives who have been charged with corruption of the Scorpene submarine sale to Malaysia are Phillippe Japiot, former chairperson of French naval dockyards unit DCNI and Jean-Paul Perrier, former chief executive of the French defence and electronics giant Thales.

Japiot is reported to have been indicted for “abuse of social assets” and Perrier for “complicity in the abuse of social assets”.

Japiot and Perrier joined two other executives who are under investigation in France in the same case – Dominique Castellan, also a former DCNI president, and Bernard Baiocco, former president of Thales International Asia.

Finally, is Najib prepared to present a White Paper to MPs on Monday followed with a wide-ranging debate when Parliament reconvenes on international corruption allegations in connection with the 2002 US$1.1 billion sale of the two French-made Scorpene submarines to Malaysia?