French Submarines Diving Malaysia Into Deep Controversy - Press Conference

 
Specific findings from the Paris papers

Document 97.
The documents seized by the French police include a note for the French Minister of Defense dated 2 June 1999 related to an interview with the Malaysian Minister of Defense and the French-Malaysian diplomatic relationships as far as defense is concerned.

In a document tagged “Malaysia”, there is a confidential report regarding PERIMEKAR and TERASASI. The report includes a note on “Retracing the background of negotiations”. The note states that pursuant to the major defense contracts between France and Malaysia, there is a requirement that substantial transfer of money has to be channeled to individuals and/or political organizations.
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.

The note mentions about Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor and Razak Baginda as points of reference for political network. The note further states that both Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor and Razak Baginda have strong political connections as Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor is close to the Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin and Razak Baginda is close to Defence Minister Najib Razak.

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.

The note stated:
“On the contrary, Razak Baginda maintained excellent ties with the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. Furthermore, his wife is a close friend of the Minister of Defense’s wife. Therefore, Baginda became the centre of the network: Terasasi is linked to Baginda while PERIMEKAR was initially controlled by Mohd Noor.”

Previous Expose
Upon returning from France after meeting with Judge Roger Le Loire at Tribunal de Grande Instance on 19 April 2012 and after gaining full access to the investigation papers, SUARAM had exposed two crucial documents: document 87 and 144.

Document 87
The documents seized by the French police from the office of Mr. Henri GIDE (THALES) on 28 May 2010 includes a fax written in English and sent by F. DUPONT dated 1 June 2001 addressed to D. ARNAUD, CCed to BAIOCCO and SAUVAGEOT with “MALAYSIA/SUBMARINE PROJECT” as the subject.
Mr. DUPONT detailed out the chronology of visits and future actions during the journey in Malaysia of which there were various planned undertakings in particular negotiation meetings with the Ministry of Defense and the management members of PERIMEKAR during which two (2) contract proposals would be mentioned (from DCNI to PERIMEKAR as well as between PERIMEKAR and the Malaysian Government).

He finally indicated a meeting with DATO’ SRI NAJIB in France on 14 July 2001 with the condition that DCNI offers a maximum sum of USD 1 billion for PERIMEKAR’s stay (in France).

Document 144
The prosecutor’s office upon instructions had received from THALES International Asia, an envelope on 22 August 2011. The envelope contained:
- A sub folder entitled “C4”
- A sub folder entitled “invoices”
- PDF files
- A USB thumb drive

Among the crucial documents was the existence of an invoice faxed by TERASASI Sdn Bhd (Company No.524814-P) on 19 September 2004 to Bernard BAIOCCO the then CEO of THALES International Asia. The invoice stated an amount of Euro 359, 450.00 for the purpose of success fees to be paid to Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad, Branch CP Tower, Seksyen 16, Petaling Jaya, Account No:12109-0-01-3000450-8 and contains a handwritten note in French as follows:

“Razak demande si ce SF peut etre pris en compte assez vite. Le Support Fee suit avec un rapport”. Translation: Razak requests if that SF can be taken into account quite urgently. The support fee follows with a report.

It therefore appears that Thales International Asia could not ignore that the sum paid to TERASASI Sdn Bhd ultimately benefitted Mr Najib Razak the Minister of Defence and/or his consultant Abdul Razak Baginda.

Source