Why are the French police doing the job for the MACC?

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Jun 10, 2010

“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.”

By Malaysia Chronicle

More than a week has passed since news broke of French police raiding the offices of DCNS and Thales, the makers of the Scorpene submarines, but the MACC is still refusing to begin probing the numerous complaints that Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved and that kick-backs were paid to his associates.

“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.