Malaysian PM under pressure over sub deal
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak faced renewed questions yesterday over a 2002 sale of submarines to his country after a close associate was charged in France over alleged kickbacks.
Najib, then defence minister, oversaw the deal worth nearly one billion euros ($1.18 billion) to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta-class submarine from French naval dockyards unit DCN, which is linked to French defence group Thales.
Abdul Razak Baginda advised Najib at the time. An investigation into the deal was launched in 2010 in response to a complaint from Malaysian rights group Suaram, and investigators allege Abdul Razak received kickbacks.
He was charged in July in France with "active and passive complicity in corruption" and "misappropriation of corporate assets", a French judicial source told AFP this week.
He denies wrongdoing, saying in a statement after the news broke that he had "not committed any crime of corruption or breached any laws in the matter".
Suaram yesterday, in a joint statement with NGO The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, urged Malaysian authorities to take action.
"It is no longer tenable for the Malaysian authorities to dismiss the Scorpene deal as above board and keep silent on the damning developments in France," the statement said.
"Najib was the defence minister that signed on the contract then -- we urge for him to answer for what happened then, and what would be the steps taken by Malaysian institutions."
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