Coming soon this September: Third person in Scorpene scandal

(Harakah Daily) - Details of a 'third commission' in the controversial purchase of Scorpene submarines, said to have been paid to a high-ranking Malaysian government officer, is set to be revealed when a corruption trial involving the French arms supplier begins in France this September.
Cynthia Gabriel of rights group Suaram, who is spearhering efforts to compile facts and bring the matter to French courts under its "Ops Scorpene" project, recently revealed new evidence that a third commission, allegedly bigger than the first two commissions paid to Perimekar Sdn Bhd at RM540 million, PKR’s online organ KeadilanDaily reported.

Perimekar is fully owned by Ombak Laut, a company owned by Abdul Razak Baginda, the aide to prime minister Najib Razak who was charged of abetting in the brutal murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibu.

Explosive details linking the murder to Najib had been given in a statutory declaration by Abdul Razak's private investigator P Balasubramaniam, saying the duo had both been romantically involved with Altantuya, who had assisted in the purchase negotiation of the submarines.

Cynthia said the identity of the third individual would be known in the trial.

The person was found to be with Abdul Razak and Altantuya on a flight in 2002 to Macau to attend a meeting related to the Scorpene purchase.

“Through courts, we will be allowed to access documents belonging to the company which had done the transaction,” Cynthia told KeadilanDaily.

Cynthia said there had been increased public interest in the case following the Malaysia government’s deportation of Suaram's lawyer William Bourdon, who was detained upon his return from Penang at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Friday.

Saying Suaram was pondering on its next course of action following the deportation, Cynthia said Bourdon's arrest showed the government was desperate to conceal some secrets.

Home minister Hishammuddin Hussein had explained that Bourdon had violated his visa conditions.

"People get deported every day,” he was quoted as saying.