Britain ‘pressing’ for poll reforms in Malaysia

Clare Rewcastle Brown

 | January 20, 2013

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaysia headed by British MP Tom Greaterex has repeatedly raised free and fair elections with premiers Najib Tun Razak and David Cameron.

LONDON: Malaysia’s growing civil rights movement and its ability to mobilise tens of thousands onto the streets of KL has clearly not gone unnoticed in the corridors of the Whitehall Government in the United Kingdom.

Foreign Office officials who attended a briefing session provided by the Human Rights organisation Suaram at the House of Commons last week gave assurances that they were fully aware of the democracy issues raised by the Bersih movement and supportive of the calls for reform by civil rights groups in Malaysia.

At the briefing, which was chaired by the MP Tom Greatrex, a Shadow Energy Minister and member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaysia, the officials said that they have repeatedly raised the matter of free and fair elections and also election observers with politicians both in Malaysia and the UK.

“In all our briefings right up to the highest level we keep pressing home about free and fair elections and election observers,” confirmed one of a number of officials who were at the briefing.

When asked what “the highest level” meant, one of the officials who declined to be named said: “With Prime Ministers Najib and Cameron”.

The briefing last week, which came hard on the heels of the massive turn out for the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally at Merdeka Stadium on Jan 12, took place in a Committee Room at the House of Commons and was attended by politicians, NGOs (including Transparency International, Article 19, Reporters Without Borders, Global Witness) and local journalists.

Bersih leader S Ambiga gave a Skype address, which was then picked up by Suaram’s Cynthia Gabriel, who gave an overview of the main human rights issues in Malaysia.

She focused on concerns about the Security Offences Act, Peaceful Assembly Act, Amendments to the Evidence Act, the use of capital punishment and the large number of deaths in police custody.

The Suaram director also briefed the gathering on some of the major corruption issues that have caused a growing lack of confidence in Malaysia’s institutions.

The press notice for the briefing highlighted the new bilateral trading initiatives between Britain and Malaysia, which makes this a particularly delicate time for relations between the two countries.

The past year has seen numerous official visits by politicians and royalty travelling both ways and the setting up of a Working Group to strengthen trading relations.

The focus is around major arms negotiations for the possible purchase of Typhoon jets, made by the UK defence giant, BAE Systems.

Press freedom critical
According to Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron speaking during his own visit to KL last year: “The era of benign neglect is over. Britain is back, back to do business with Malaysia”.

Suaram while welcoming the closer ties, however warned that the UK should not ignore civil rights and human rights issues if it was coming to do business, but rather should use its engagement to influence positive changes.

Another member of the Foreign Office team, who was introduced as their Human Rights Representative also intervened to say that the UK Government’s policy was to take every opportunity to encourage other countries to support human rights.

He said his job was to ensure that no export licences would be granted that could end up infringing human rights and added that the FCO runs a Democracy Fund to help support human rights initiatives in countries including Malaysia.

He  invited NGOs, who were looking for support to run such projects to visit their website and to apply.

“I do not criticise foreign government…” he said “…but we do a lot on human rights”.

Former Foreign Office mandarin Tim Lankester, who is the author of a recent book on the Pergau Dam affair, was also at the briefing and he confirmed that there had been many questions and concerns about possible corruption during the arms for aid scandal.

“We didn’t find the evidence but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t corruption”, he said.

He went on to say that Malaysia had a lot to learn from Indonesia in terms of freedom of the press.

“Freeing the press has become absolutely critical in achieving greater accountability in that country (Indonesia)” he said, explaining that by comparison the Malaysian media is totally controlled by the ruling coalition.

Clare Rewcastle-Brown is the editor of Sarawak Report and founder of Radio Free Sarawak. She was also on the panel at this briefing and spoke in favour of greater press freedom in Malaysia.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/01/20/britain-pressing-for-reforms-in-msia/

Special tags do not guarantee safety of journalists

January 9, 2013

FMT LETTER: From Nalini Elumalai, via e-mail

Suaram refers to the Malaysiakini report, ‘Cops to issue special tags for Saturday rally’ and views the unprecedented move by the police issuing special tag to the journalist as unprofessional and suspicious.

The reason given by the ACP Ramli Mohammed Yoosuf is that the tags were to ensure the safety of journalist and to avoid untoward incidents like Bersih 3.0 rally where journalists were brutally assaulted by the police.

Suaram had in the past demanded that journalists on duty at rallies be protected. However the move to issue special tags to journalists alone does not guarantee their safety and casts doubts on police’s duty to ensure peace and order since participants will be easily identified.

We question the necessity to issue special tags to the press when the  press has already been issued authorised tags by the information ministry. Each media organisation now has their own media tags.

What the police should be concerned of is not how to tag the media but rather to initiate a Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) to deal with members of the media and to allow and protect them in their duty to cover and disseminate the information to the public without any interference and aggression from the police.

Suaram is of the view that instead, a clear separation is needed between the police (uniformed or not) and the protesters and that it is extremely important for the police to wear their identification badges bearing their names and identification numbers.

Police identification was the major issue in so far as Bersih 3.0 rally was concerned whereby victims of police violence had failed to identify the aggressors who were on duty without their identifications. Many young police officers were not apprehended due to this factor alone.

Suaram notes the responsibility of the force to ensure the safety of journalists but is equally concerned about the safety of participants. Suaram states that the police shall proactively ensure all rallies, including the one scheduled for this Saturday (Jan 12) to be in order and safe for both the journalists and the participants.

The fundamental right to assemble peacefully is the people’s right, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The writer is the new Executive Director of Suaram

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/01/09/special-tags-do-not-guarantee-safety-of-journalists/

Kit Siang urges Suhakam to intervene in harassment of Suaram

By Lisa J. Ariffin

September 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Lim Kit Siang today called upon the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to invoke its powers to protect Suaram from what he described as “continued government harassment and infringement of human rights” over its funding sources.

The DAP parliamentary leader (picture) today called upon Suhakam to intervene in Putrajaya’s continued harassment of Suaram’s parent company, Suara Inisiatif Sdn. Bhd “as they (Suaram) had been continually persecuted by the government and its agencies since July 2012”.

Human rights group Suaram is currently in the limelight due to its part in an ongoing French inquiry probing possible corruption in Malaysia’s multi-billion ringgit purchase of two Scorpene submarines, which has been linked to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the murder of Mongolian model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu.

Lim explained that Suaram has since asked Suhakam to take a stand on Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s “overreaching powers in interrupting and influencing investigations by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) and to acknowledge the normalcy of foreign funding to organisations in Malaysia”.

He urged Suhakam to act under Section 4(1) (4) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999 which vested it with functions “to inquire into complaints regarding infringements of human rights” and Section 4(2)(3) empowering it “to study and verify any infringement of human rights”.

Lim also called upon prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to end the harassment of “other independent-minded human rights NGOs and news portals”.

“This is totally inimical to word and spirit of his (Najib’s) ‘political transformation’ and pledge to make Malaysia’s the ‘world’s best democracy’,” he said today in a press statement.

“(It is) also totally alien to the ‘new politics’ recently advocated by deputy higher education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah which envisaged a positive partnership of government with business and civil society to create a new governance framework,” he added.

Earlier this month, the CCM raided the office of Suara Inisiatif. Ismail Sabri was quoted as saying the accounts of Suara Inisitatif were “highly suspicious”.

Suaram, established since 1989, has been investigated by the CCM since early 2012 for being registered as a company instead of a society, a practice among NGOs whose applications under the Societies Act 1966 were rejected by the government.

The NGO has come under pressure since it started scrutinising the purchase of Scorpene submarines by the Defence Ministry.

When asked by reporters to comment on its foreign funding, Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong said many NGOs used the funds for programmes without intervention or advice from such parties.

Kua was referring to allegations by Malay dailies that Suaram took aid from the George Soros Foundation, which made them an agent of the billionaire currency speculator.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/kit-siang-urges-suhakam-to-intervene-in-harassment-of-suaram/

Putrajaya’s SUARAM probe sparks civil society activism

By Ida Lim

September 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 ― Outrage at Putrajaya’s clampdown on Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) appears to have given a major boost to civil society activism here, likely affecting the Najib government’s bid for votes from middle Malaysia ahead of an election expected soon. 

The human rights watchdog has been instrumental in the French probe on Malaysia’s multibillion ringgit purchase of two Scorpene submarines, a high-profile scandal that many believe will unearth incriminating evidence against top government officials here. 

Global rights group Amnesty International had yesterday raised suspicion over the timing of the government’s sudden interest in SUARAM’s operations and funding sources, saying the probe was opened only four weeks after the organisation revealed documents showing a close associate to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had allegedly sold Malaysian naval secrets to the French. 

A new citizen group has now sprouted, joining the burgeoning of other civil society movements nationwide in a campaign to help SUARAM keep the Scorpene scandal in the limelight. 

Calling themselves the “Scorpene Never Dies” Action Team, the group of youths and “concerned citizens” has demanded that the Najib administration stop its “politically-motivated” investigation against SUARAM. 

Team coordinator Ng Yap Hwa said this was a poignant moment for Malaysians as their failure to band together to protect SUARAM would only encourage the government to continue to quell public dissent. 

“We feel we need to stand by Suaram in this critical time. 

“If we as citizens don’t rally behind a human rights defender, the government could easily clamp down... no more people can stand by us in the future,” he said. 

The team is organising a one-hour candlelight vigil next Tuesday at the historic Merdeka Square in the city centre here where several other protests fuelled by civil society activism have taken place recently. 

The team has also urged Malaysians nationwide to hold simultaneous events next week to record their disdain for the alleged harassment against SUARAM. 

Ng said that if members of the public keep silent now, “we will be the next (victim)” one day. 

He said that to “defend Suaram and to stand by Suaram” is for everyone’s benefit. 

Ng added that the team would not be applying for a police permit for its 8pm event at the historic Merdeka square, as it was every individual’s “constitutional right” to have a peaceful assembly. 

“Let us spread the Scorpene submarines issue far and wide to express our solidarity with the human rights defender, thereby warning the government that even if it could keep down SUARAM, the Scorpene submarines issue would never die and we would carry on the struggle to uncover the truth of the Scorpenes scandal and uphold justice for Altantuya,” the group said in a statement. 

SUARAM recently came under close scrutiny of the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) due to its foreign funding sources and the government agency said earlier this week that it plans to charge the activist group for its “misleading accounts”. 

The human rights NGO has been actively pursuing the Scorpene scandal in the French courts, determined to expose the government of alleged corruption in the purchase multibillion submarines in 2009 and possibly reopen the murder case of Mongolian model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu, which is said to be linked to the deal. 

In April this year, the Tribunal de Grand Instance in Paris began its inquiry into Suaram’s claim that the French naval firm DCNS had paid some RM452 million as a bribe to Malaysian officials to obtain a contract for two submarines. Suaram had filed the complaint with the French courts in 2009. 

At a May 30 press conference in Bangkok, SUARAM’s French lawyer Joseph Breham had revealed that a highly-document government document on the Malaysian navy’s evaluation of the Scorpene submarines it planned to buy was sold by Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd to DCNS for RM142 million. 

Abdul Razak Baginda, a former think-tank head who was at the centre of the 2006 investigation into Altantuya’s murder, is listed as a director of Terasasi with his father, Abdul Malim Baginda. Abdul Razak is said to be a close associate to Najib. 

“It was a secret document by the Malaysian navy, an evaluation for the order of the submarines, which is a highly confidential report,” Breham had said at the conference. 

A total of 138 local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and 56 regional NGOs recently pledged their support for SUARAM, calling for a stop to the “harassment” while the group has also launched its own “Stand up for SUARAM” campaign to garner public support. 

Dataran Merdeka has this year seen two rallies by civil society - the April 28 sit-in protest for elections reform by the Bersih 2.0 movement and the Janji Demokrasi pre-Independence Day rally. 

Unhappiness over environmental issues such as the Lynas rare earth plant in Kuantan has also prompted rallies. 

Najib recently wrote to young voters in Selangor, asking them to consider if a “confrontational” approach would be the best way to solve problems and push for reforms. 

His administration had passed the Peaceful Assembly Act earlier this year, a legislation which is said to allow freedom of assembly in accordance with “international norms”. 

Barisan Nasional (BN) insiders have said that several recent surveys show that the coalition needs to work harder to get a convincing victory in the coming polls especially with some 2.2 million voters casting ballots for the first time. The next general election is only due after April 2013 when BN’s mandate expires. 

It is understood that the compilation of surveys had revealed that BN could win up to 146 parliamentary seats with at least 80 sure wins, more than the 140 won in Election 2008. 

Najib’s approval rating from the Chinese and Indian communities had slipped after the government’s highly-criticised clampdown on the April 28 Bersih 3.0 rally although the latest survey by pollster Merdeka Center showed the leader’s percentage points climb to 69 per cent, largely due to a surge of support from poorer Malaysians.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/putrajayas-suaram-probe-sparks-civil-society-activism/

监督人民之声报章媒体，人权委会：不开听证会

2012-09-22 11:00

• 
  娜莉妮（前左3）代表人民之声呈交备忘录给人权委员会成员莫哈末沙尼（右2）；前排左起为辛蒂婭和麦莎拉；右是迪瓦拉贾。（图：星洲日报）

（吉隆坡21日讯）针对政府及政府机构近期对人民之声（SUARAM）所作的指责，人权委员会（Suhakam）委员莫哈末沙尼表示，他们会监督人民之声及报章媒体，不过不会召开听证会调查此事。

人民之声执行董事娜莉妮、秘书处成员辛蒂婭、麦莎拉和迪瓦拉贾及非政府组织等人，今日向人权委员会呈交备忘录，要求对方监督及促请政府停止对人民之声的骚扰。

备忘录中共提出14项请求，其中包括承认政府及相关机构针对人民之声的行动，做出不当的骚扰；针对人民之声事件引起侵犯基本自由和公民自由採取坚定立场；促请政府即刻停止一切形式的骚扰；谴责对人民之声的骚扰和侵犯；劝请政府扮演好联合国人权理事会的角色；谴责政府曲解民间社团；针对部长越权插手及影响公司委员会调查及组织接受海外资金课题表明立场等。

人权委员会莫哈末沙尼表示，我国並没有法律阐明，非政府组织不能接受来自海外的资金援助。

询及政府以人民之声不是合法非政府组织，不能接受海外资助的说法，莫哈末沙尼则认为，人民之声以SuaraInisiatif公司名字註册，与其名为SUARAM的非政府组织两者间並没產生任何衝突。

邀涉及机构会商

此外，莫哈末沙尼说，人权委员会將邀请涉及此事的相关机构进行会面，並从中瞭解有关事件，然后会將报告呈给政府。

他说，他们会继续监督此事的发展及媒体的报导，並会询问媒体为何会含有“误导性＂的成份，如似组织接受海外资金就是犯罪一般。

不过，他说，人权委员会並没有打算针对此事召开听证会。

来源：http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/261900?tid=1

要求政府停止攻击骚扰，135非政府组织挺人民之声

2012-09-11 17:10

• 
  安美嘉（前左4）率领非政府组织共同声援人民之声。前排坐者左起是艾琳费南达斯、艾薇及柯嘉逊；右起为法蒂亚、何玉苓、玛斯嘉丽查及玛丽亚陈。（图：星洲日报）

（吉隆坡11日讯）135个大马非政府组织团体公开声援人民之声（SUARAM），要求政府停止攻击及骚扰捍卫人权的人民之声。

超过30余名非政府组织代表，今日在净选盟2.0主席拿督安美嘉领导下，召开新闻发佈会发表联合声明力挺及声援人民之声。

同时力挺人民之声挑战政府及政府机构，针对Perimekar私人有限公司及Terasasi私人有限公司展开调查。

他们也要求政府以目前调查人民之声的手法，向公眾揭露针对上述两家公司的调查结果。

他们怀疑人民之声近来发生的风波，与人民之声揭发“鮋鱼潜水艇弊案＂，及发现政府与相关公司涉嫌巨大的財源舞弊有关。

净选盟委员玛丽亚陈宣读联署声明说，非政府组织极度关注国內贸易、合作社及消费部长拿督斯里依斯迈沙比利发表有关人民之声与Suara Inisiatif有限公司户头款项“高度可疑＂的调查声明。

他们要求执法单位就人民之声组织户头涉嫌不正当交易的指控，於调查上秉持公正不阿的態度，因为人民之声首要职责是对大马人民而非政府。

与此同时，就近期来，不同执法单位向人民之声採取调查行动，人民之声也充份配合及给予合作。

“在调查过程中，执法单位如大马社险机构（PERKESO）看似不是最主要的，反而进一步掀起其政治动机的嫌疑。＂他们也质疑为何大马公司委员会要在马来西亚马来人阵线（JMM）主席质疑人民之声是否是合法的非政府组织后才採取行动。

成立23年未受调查

人民之声於1989年成立迄今，23年来都未受到大马公司委员会调查，直到数个月前爆发人民之声或不是合法的非政府组织、疑户头款项可疑及接受外国財源资助等风波后，政府要求公司委员会、社险机构、国行及內政部等介入调查此事。

出席者有大马妇女人权组织执行董事艾琳费南达斯、妇女援助组织（WAO）执行董事艾薇、独立新闻中心（CIJ）执行员玛斯嘉丽查、妇女行动协会（AWAM）主席何玉苓、雪隆社区组织（PERMAS）主席陈佐翰、人民之声律师法蒂亚及执行董事娜莉妮等人。

指调查或涉誹谤
柯嘉逊：保留诉讼权利

针对政府近日来展开的调查，会否含有誹谤成份，人民之声董事柯嘉逊回应道，他们会保留诉讼的权利。

称索罗斯有投资权利

询及著名大炒家索罗斯创办的纽约开放社会机构（OSI）注资人民之声，柯嘉逊则回说，他们不干涉该机构资金运作，而索罗斯有权根据本身的意愿將资金利用在他认为恰当的地方。

他表示：“索罗斯是利用自己的钱注资而非人民的钱，这有甚么不妥？＂据报导，公司委员会发现人民之声通过其註册公司Suara Insiatif私人有限公司，收取4笔海外资金，分別是纽约的开放社会机构（OSI）、华盛顿的国家民主基金会（NED）、东南亚电子媒体中心（SEACeM）及德国驻马来西亚大使馆。

贸消部长拿督斯里依斯迈沙比里要求国家银行援引2007年反洗黑钱及反暴力法令调查此事，因为有关资金来源让人怀疑。

来源：http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/260626?tid=1

Photos show that Altantuya was in France

• Susan Loone
• 9:42AM Jun 26, 2012

A Police probe finds the Mongolian translator never entered France from 1999 to 2006, but pictures of her published in 2007 show otherwise, says a report.

While French police investigations have revealed that Altantuya Shaaribuu nevered entered France from 1999 to 2006, there are photographs of her taken in Paris several years ago, that indicate otherwise.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/201884

Secret documents sold to French company

Teoh El Sen

 | May 31, 2012















The evaluation documents by the Malaysian Navy on the Scorpene submarine was sold for RM142 million.

PETALING JAYA: A highly-confidential government document — an evaluation by the Malaysian Navy of the Scorpene-class submarine and contract details — was allegedly sold to a French defence company for 36 million euros (RM142 million), according to human rights NGO Suaram.

Lawyers acting for the Suaram in an ongoing French judicial inquiry said that the secret document was sold by Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd to French defence giant DCNS, ostensibly for “commercial engineering” works.

This was among the major aspects that the French investigative judge probing the case lodged by Suaram against Paris-owned shipmaker DCNS for alleged corruption are looking at.

According to French lawyer acting for Suaram, Joseph Breham, the French judge had inquired what those payments were and had demanded reports of financial transactions.

The lawyer had said it was even possible that Thales, a subsidiary of DCN, decided to pay the money to obtain the classified document so that it could better its bid for the project.

Directors of the Hong Kong-based Terasasi include Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s close ally Abdul Razak Baginda and the latter’s father Abdul Malim Baginda.

The secret document was allegedly sold to Thales International, also known as Thint Asia, which is a subsidiary of DCN (later known as DCNS).

DCNS is the company central in the legal suit filed by Suaram in 2009 in the French courts, which recently commenced a judicial inquiry at the Tribunal De Grande Instance in Paris.

The inquiry revolves around the RM7.3 billion deal to purchase two Scorpene submarines with DCNS and Spainish Navantia in 2002, when Najib was defence minister. Suaram’s complaint was based on the claim of corruption for a payment amounting to 114 million euros from DCNS to Perimekar.

Perimekar is also directly linked to Abdul Razak who was acquitted of abetting in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu; while two of Najib’s former bodyguards were convicted for the murder.

Speaking to FMT from Bangkok, Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said that the selling of the secret document for 36 million euro amounted to an act of treason, on top of it being most probably a corrupt act.

“This is downright illegal. Clearly an act of treason as it is a breach of defence secrets by selling state secrets. It is classified as a confidential document by Royal Malaysian Navy for the government, supposed to be in internal document that comes under the Official Secrets Act, and you sold it to a French company? You are not supposed to do this,” she said.

Devious act

Cynthia said this was “one of the big scandals” that had surfaced from the Suaram trial, and the information was among the hundreds of French’s prosecution investigative documents that Suaram currently has privileged access to.

“Indeed a very devious act. There is clearly a possibility of money laundering, or the money could be channeled to various beneficiaries including political organisations in Malaysia. This is corrupt and we think it is a sweetener to buy off some people,” she said.

“We now want to ask who benefited from this? When we went through the Paris papers. these were among the most startling issues. Before this we only know of Perimeker, now there is the emergence of the company Terasasi was actually key many answers, to showing how the money trail became more complicated, involving another Asian country, in the transfer of monies,” she said.

Cynthia said everybody is “shocked at the scale of the robbery” and “there is no longer space for silence”.

“It has become incumbent on the Malaysian government to give a proper explanation on the money that has been dished out. They cannot keep all these away from the public. We believe that there are many more skeletons in the closets and many more secrets that need to be unraveled .”

Cynthia was together with Breham, lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri and R Sivarasa in Bangkok to reveal ‘damning details’ on the Scorpene case. A press conference at the Foreign Correspondence Club of Thailand was held yesterday.

The conference was held in Bangkok as Breham was unable to get a proper visa to enter Malaysia. Another French lawyer acting for Suaram, William Bourdon, was last year deported from Malaysia.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/05/31/scorpene-scandal-secret-documents-sold-to-french-company/

Scorpene scandal: Najib looking at red notice

May 30, 2012

Suaram's privileged access to confidential documents also reveals roles played by a person said to be close to Daim Zainuddin.

PETALING JAYA: There is a possibility of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi being issued an international warrant of arrest if they fail to adhere to French subpoenas to assist in the Scorpene submarine corruption inquiry.

Suaram’s French lawyer Joseph Breham told a press conference in Bangkok today that the French judges hearing the inquiry have discretionary powers to ask the Interpol to issue a red notice (an international warrant of arrest) against witnesses who failed to submit to the French court.

However this would be the last resort to be undertaken to compel witnesses to testify in Paris.

Breham explained that the French court is able to take on several courses of action, in compelling the Malaysian witnesses.

He said that the judges will first issue a subpoena in writing on a witness, and once a subpoena has been issued, the witness is obliged to appear before the courts and to assist the courts in its works.

“If the witness refuses to abide by the subpoena, the court can issue a notice ‘mandate d ‘amener’, compelling the witness to appear before it.

“If the witness fails to oblige, a warrant of arrest may be issued. The warrant of arrest is applicable within the boundaries of the French territory, and may be internationalised, if the judge deems necessary.

“Based on the judges’ discretionary power, they can ask Interpol to issue a red notice i.e an international warrant of arrest,” he added.

He also said that judge Roger Le Loire, one of the two Instruction Judges assigned to oversee the case, had principally accepted Suaram’s list of seven proposed witnesses, including Najib, Zahid Hamidi and Abdul Razak Baginda.

“Judge Le Loire after hearing an elaborate testimony from Suaram, accepted our statement, and promised to proceed with the inquiry with no stone unturned,” said Breham.

He added that on the acceptance of the seven witnesses proposed by Suaram, the French judge had asked for the full details of the persons involved, in order to begin issuing subpoenas as he saw fit.

Legal obligations

In a statement issued by Suaram after the press conference in Bangkok, the human rights NGO said that Malaysia has legal obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to cooperate with other nation states in preventing, investigating and prosecuting offenders of corruption.

It added that state parties are bound to render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court and to extradite offenders.

Suaram also said that it has gained full privileged access to the 153 investigation papers from the French Public Prosecutor’s office.

“This is a huge step forward, as many of the details kept confidential are now made accessible to Suaram as the civil plaintiff in the criminal case against the DCNS (French shipbuilding company),” it said.

It said that in one document – named Document 97 – was a note for the French Minister of Defense dated June 2, 1999 related to an interview with the Malaysian Defence Minister and the French-Malaysian diplomatic relationships as far as defense is concerned.

“The note states that pursuant to the major defence contracts between France and Malaysia, there is a requirement that substantial transfer of money has to be channeled to individuals and/or political organisations.

“The note specifically states that apart from individuals, the ruling party (Umno) is the biggest beneficiary. Consultants (company agents) are often used as political network agents to facilitate these monetary transfers and to receive commissions from their mandators,” said Suaram’s statement.

Wives’ network

It further said that the note mentioned about Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor and Razak Baginda as points of reference for political network, while adding that Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor was close to the then Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin and Razak Baginda to the then Defence Minister Najib.

“The note also explains that by early 2001, Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor’s influence began to decline following the fall from power of the Minister of Finance, Daim Zainuddin which resulted in the disappearance of Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor’s name from Perimekar both as shareholder and director which was later replaced by people of Razak Baginda’s network.

“Razak Baginda eventually becomes the main point of reference for political network to facilitate the money transfer,” added Suaram.

Suaram said the note also pointed out that Razak’s wife was a close friend of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor.

Suaram also said that it was holding its press conference in Bangkok – and not in Kuala Lumpur – following the forced deportation of one of Suaram’s lawyers, William Bourdon, last July when he visited Malaysia to speak about the case.

Suaram’s complaint with the French courts for a judicial review of the Scorpene contract in November 2009 has resulted in the commencement of a judicial inquiry at the Tribunal De Grande Instance in Paris.

The inquiry will probe alleged corruption crimes and illegal bribes involving top officials from both Malaysia and France in the sale of two Scorpene submarines by French shipbuilding company DCNS to the Malaysian Defence Ministry, then helmed by Najib.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/05/30/scorpene-scandal-najib-looking-at-red-notice/