Najib grilled on Scorpene missiles cost, Altantuya tryst in S’pore
Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
As the D-date nears for an explosive London meeting between the MACC and private investigator P Balasubramaniam, opposition leaders are redoubling efforts to get Prime Minister Najib Razak to come clean on the purchase of two Scorpene submarines and the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, who had acted as a go-between in the exorbitantly-priced deal.
PKR supreme council member Badrul Hisham Shaharin fired the first salvo, calling on Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein to confirm if latest news reports were true the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission would finally send three officers to London to take down a statement from Bala, a private eye hired by Najib’s close associate Razak Baginda.
Badrul also accused the prime minister of buckling to pressure from the Singapore government over a multi-billion ringgit railway-land swap that he said disadvantaged Malaysia. Was Najib being ‘blackmailed’ and Malaysia put to ransom? Badrul urged his colleagues in Parliament to raise the issue.
“Balasubramaniam has said in a sworn statement that Najib was the one who introduced Altanutya as Aminah to Razak Baginda at a diamond show in Singapore. Does this mean that the Singapore authorities have information or photographs that could incriminate Najib? Can this be why our PM is so ready to agree to Singapore’s terms in the railway-land deal,” Badrul told Malaysia Chronicle.
Despite swirling speculation that Altantuya was his mistress before he passed her onto Baginda, Najib has maintained his innocence and sworn on the Quran that he had never met her. Baginda has however admitted a sexual relationship with Altantuya.
Meanwhile, PKR Member of Parliament for Batu Tian Chua sought to table an emergency motion to debate the cost of acquiring two types of missiles for the submarines purchased by Najib when he was defense minister in 2002.
According to Tian, there was a possible inflation of at least 20 percent in the final purchase price for the 40 SM 39 Exocet Block 2 missiles and 30 Black Shark torpedoes. He said Malaysian lawmakers needed to probe the reason for the overpricing and debate if it was a form of kickback and to whom.
A separate amount of 114 million euros was also paid to Perimekar, an obscure firm with links to Baginda, but was booked as fees for co-ordination and support services. Despite public outrage and accusations that this was tantamount to commission, the government has refused to begin any probe for possible corruption.
“The total market price costs of the two types of missiles amounted to 182.8 million euros. But the Malaysian government’s cost of purchase is 219.265 million euros. This means that the government had overpaid 20 per cent or 36.465 million euros compared to the market price,” Tian told Parliament on Monday.
Tian also asked why until now the missiles, which were due to be delivered between 2008 and 2009, have not arrived. “The warranty for the submarines expired in May 2010. After May, there is no warranty but the missiles are not here yet,” he said.
The Altantuya murder and the Scorpenes acquisition are intertwined. The 28-year old Altantuya was murdered in 2006 after she allegedly failed to collect a commission of US$500,000 from Baginda for her role in helping to close the deal.
