Here's her latest post which I stole for midnight chow:)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Why are the French police doing the job for the MACC?
“The silence is embarrassing. The world must be wondering why the French police are doing the job of protecting the Malaysian taxpayers and not the so-called Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission,” MP for Subang Sivarasa Rasiah told Malaysia Chronicle.
Last week, civil rights group Suaram appealed to the MACC to co-operate with the French authorities over a complaint it lodged in Paris in February after the Malaysian government ignored repeated calls from the public to reveal the full details of the RM5 billion deal.
In 2002, when Najib was still the defense minister, he had ordered two diesel-electric Scorpene attack submarines as part of a naval upgrade. He became the prime minister in 2009 and the MACC now comes under his direct jurisdiction, while the Malaysian police is under the Home Minister, who is his cousin Hishamuddin Hussein.
“The failure of the Najib administration to respond and account to its own taxpayers has become an international joke,” Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel told Malaysia Chronicle.
“It is for this reason that Suaram was compelled to lodge a complaint with the French prosecutors so that, at least, investigations can begin at the other end.”
Shopping spree but for whom?
So far Suaram has filed two complaints with the French authorities - in February 2010 and December 2009. Under the French legal system, prosecutors must first investigate a complaint before the case can proceed.
The Malaysian complaint centers on a 114 million euro fee paid by DCNS to a Malaysian firm Perimekar Sdn Bhd to facilitate the deal. Perimekar is owned by the wife of Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate and former aide of Najib’s. Formed only a few months before the deal was inked, Perimekar does not have any track record in submarine services nor did it have the financial ability to support the contract.
The possible corruption came to light only in recent years, following the discovery of the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006. Altantuya, who became the mistress of Razak Baginda, had acted as a go-between in the deal.
There are also widespread rumors that she was Najib's former lover and it was he who introduced her to Baginda. Najib has denied ever knowing Altantuya. However, two of his former bodyguards have been sentenced to hang for her killing and because they had no motive to do so, speculation remains rife that there was a conspiracy and there were masterminds behind the murder.
According to Suaram’s lawyer Joseph Breham, the French prosecutors had agreed in March to launch a preliminary inquiry into the possible corruption and kickbacks paid by DCNS to Perimekar. Last week, French police followed up by raiding the offices of DCNS and Thales and confiscating documents to help in their investigations.
“But here, we are pretending nothing has happened. The commission alone comes up to more than RM500 million. Malaysians deserve to know if we had saved that money- how many more new schools and libraries we could have built," Sivarasa said.
"The entire deal costs RM5 billion but question still remains - were the submarines suitable for defending our coastline or did we buy them just so that some big shots could collect commission.”
DESIDERATA's windmill of his mind swrils:
My thoughts running
A myriad thoughts flashing
no particular direction
some are crystal clear
most are blurred and confusing
'tis like a journey into unknown
sadness wells up when a familiar face appears
but all is lonely and questioning
among crowds of strange people
and nameless ones
I wake up in a daze
not knowing reality from a dream
what journey am I embarked on?
It's a journey running
Still.
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