Explosive Submarine Scandal Erupts!

A submarine does not and cannot deter an opponent and may not safeguard Malaysian sovereignty as it could be seen as a move to put pressure towards an arms race. If that is the case, could the purchase of the submarines be a waste of money?
By Masterwordsmith
I wonder if you have read THIS REPORT HERE headlined Malaysia's Submarine Scandal Erupts in France that was written by John Berthelsen.

Excerpt from the Asia Sentinel(emphasis is my own to highlight details):

A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court.

Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes.
Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year.

For two years, Parisian prosecutors, led by investigating judges Francoise Besset Francoise Besset and Jean-Christophe Hullin, have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout.

The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries. All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, a Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect.

With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get a complete airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors.

CLICK HERE to read this MUST READ article!!!

Well, we all know about this alleged scandal and many can probably recite it backwards. More importantly, may TRUTH AND JUSTICE PREVAIL!!!!

Just in case you cannot remember details, here's some background information.

The Scorpene submarines are at the very heart of the continuing controversy over the death of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year old Mongolian translator who was cruelly and brutally C4-ed to her tragic death.

These submarines were ordered in 2002 by our PM when his Defense Ministry entered a €1 billion (RM4.7 billion) deal with a French-Spanish shipyard, Armaris, for delivery of two new Scorpene and one refurbished Agosta conventional submarines to the Malaysian navy.

According to The Malaysian Insider AT THIS LINK, the Malaysian intermediary in the non-competitive tender was a company called Perimekar, which was then owned by another Malaysian company, Ombak Laut, wholly owned by Abdul Razak Baginda, head of a government-backed strategic studies think tank who was a close friend and adviser to Najib. The deal earned Perimekar a commission of €114 million.

When our PM was Defense Minister, a portfolio which he held for 14 years until last year, Malaysia's armed services became notable for their multiple sources of equipment because the country witnessed moves to increase the number of big arms contracts.

According to Asia Sentinel at THIS LINK:

Najib had commissioned a huge military buildup to upgrade Malaysia's armed forces including the purchase of two Scorpene-class submarines and the lease of a third, a retired French Navy Agosta-class boat, for US$1 billion. The two submarines were designed by France's DCNS naval shipbuilder and built in partnership with Spain's Navantia. Both companies are state owned. The deal earned a commission of €114 million for a company owned by Najib's best friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, once the head of a Kuala Lumpur political think tank.

Perimekar, a company owned by Abdul Razak Baginda, received the €114 million for “coordination and support services” – 11 percent of the sale price of the submarines. Zainal Abidin, then the deputy defense minister, told a parliamentary inquiry that such commissions were commonplace in Malaysia. No further inquiry was made as to the commission, nor was any attempt made to determine what coordination and support services Perimekar might be providing.However, it might pay to take a look at some other deals in which top French politicians were involved in, some of them along with DCN, and to ask whether all of that €114 actually went to Razak Baginda, or if some, with the complicity of Malaysian politicians, went into the pockets of their French counterparts.

There is plenty of reason to entertain that possibility. French politicians seem to have a knack for backhanders. On October 26, in a trial that centered on illegal arms sales to Angola, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of the late president Francois Mitterand, was given a two-year suspended sentence and a €375,000 fine for receiving embezzled funds. The court ruled that he had accepted millions of euros in "consultant fees" on the arms deals between 1993 and 1998. In the dock with him were 42 people accused of selling weapons to Angola in defiance of a UN arms embargo, or of taking payments from the arms dealers and using their influence to facilitate the sales. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS MUST-READ ARTICLE.

In September last year, The Malaysian Insider carried an article called "Submarines will safeguard Malaysian sovereignty" where Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin said that the acquisition of submarines for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is the Malaysian government’s biggest commitment to enhancing the capability of its armed forces in safeguarding the sovereignty of Malaysian waters from any threat.

A month later in NST at THIS LINK, Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat that the purchase of two Scorpene-class submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak, was not made through an open tender as doing so would expose the country's defence system. Then, he explained that the first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, is manned by 32 crewmen comprising 15 officers.

According to the same report, he also said that the maintenance cost for the two submarines, including spare parts, is about RM270 million a year and that the maintenance is being done at the Sepanggar naval base which is now fully operational.

In another report in The Star in March 2009:

THE Finance Ministry has rejected the terms and rates offered by a local company to provide rescue and support services on board the two newly-acquired submarines. Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof said that on Aug 25, last year, the ministry approved a company’s offer to provide submarine escape and rescue services for a 20-year period at RM98.4mil per year.

“However, the Finance Ministry disagreed with the rates and the ministry is now re-negotiating for a lower rental rate and shorter service period of six years,” he said when winding-up the motion of thanks on the Royal Address on points relating to the ministry.

Abu Seman said the contract was awarded to the company through direct negotiations as the navy wanted to gain full knowledge on submarine rescue procedures and also to get the best terms for the services.

I am sure many Malaysians are concerned about the high cost of the purchase and maintenance of the scorpene submarines which can be damaged easily. Is it necessary to spend such a high amount on two submarines which are not a defensive vehicles but can merely be used to spy and as mobile platforms to launch a first strike with second strike capabilities against ground assets of a foreign nation. A submarine does not and cannot deter an opponent and may not safeguard Malaysian sovereignty as it could be seen as a move to put pressure towards an arms race. If that is the case, could the purchase of the submarines be a waste of money?

In Submarines add depth to Singapore defence arsenal by Richard A. Bitzinger, the writer said, "All these trends add up to something much more than the “mere” modernisation of naval forces. Depending on how these forces are utilised, they could have far-reaching repercussions on regional peace and stability. As such, these developments need to be studied for possibly negative consequences as well.
Read more at: EXPLOSIVE SUBMARINE SCANDAL ERUPTS!