by Wong Choon Mei
September 30 is a day Prime Minister Najib Razak and his
advisers will mark on their calendars. It is the day that French lawyers will
give the latest update on the Scorpenes kickbacks case involving shipmaker DCN,
Najib, his close friend Razak Baginda and murdered Mongolian translator
Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Cynthia Gabriel, director of
Suaram, confirmed the date with Malaysia Chronicle, adding
that French legal eagle Joseph Breham would head the presentation due to be
made at a fund-raising dinner in London.
"Two reasons why London
was chosen. One to tap the Malaysian disapora there as we need to raise a lot
more funds to pay for legal expenses which will rise tremendously when the open
court hearings begin. The other is of course, security. After Bourdon was deported
from Kuala Lumpur, who would dare to come here. While Najib is PM, this is his
territory, the lion's den," another Suaram source told Malaysia Chronicle.
Suaram is the Malaysian NGO that filed a complaint in the
Parisian courts, seeking a probe against French firm DCN which it accused of
having paid illegal commissions to Najib and other top Malaysian officials to
secure the RM7.3 billion submarines deal. The NGO claims the kickbacks would
have bloated the purchase price paid by Malaysian citizens, and top among the
suspicious side-deals in the acquisition package is a RM570 million or 114
million euros service and support contract given to an obscure firm called
Perimekar, which is controlled by Baginda.
The
lion's den and powerful hands
Another French lawyer appointed by Suaram, William
Bourdon, had been unceremoniously deported by when he came to Malaysia to give
three dinner presentations in July. Hours before the second presentation, and
on the same day that Najib rushed home after cutting short an overseas
vacation, Bourdon was sent back to Paris.
The lawyer was due to talk about the mystery 'third person'
who had flown with Baginda and Altantuya to Macau during negotioations with
DCN. It is widely suspected that this 'third person' was Najib Razak and once
the documetary evidence such as plane tickets and bookings emerge, Najib's
downfall from power will be sealed. He had sworn on the Quran that he had never
known Altantuya, so any contradiction to this claim would demand his
resignation as leader of a predominantly Muslim nation.
Apart from corruptly accepting commission from DCN, Najib is
alleged to have been romantically involved with Altantuya before introducing
her to Baginda, who also became her lover. Four years after the deal was
struck, Altantuya was murdered in Malaysia in 2006, after trying to get her
share of commission from Baginda. Two of Najib's former bodyguards have been
sentenced to hang for her death.
Baginda too was charged for abetting the murder but he was
controversially acquitted. But despite many trails leading back to Najib, who
had sanctioned submarines purchase in his then capacity as Defense minister,
powerful hands manipulated the Malaysian courts to clamp down on any testimony
that was 'damaging' to Najib, thereby helping him to secure the prime
minister's seat in 2009.
On
the political downcycle
With latest presentation in London and beyond Najib's
control, there is little he can do to stop 'sensitive' information from finally
coming out. And this will worsen when open court hearings begin in Paris, most
likely in October. The underperforming Malaysian PM is also on the downcycle
within his own political party Umno, and the powerful hands that helped him
during the Altantuya murder probe and trial in 2007 and 2008 are no longer so
friendly. Chances are high that rival warlords will use the information to
bolster their case for him to be removed as party president.
Najib's popularity tanked an alarming 6 percentage points in
August and there is a growing chorus in Umno and the BN coalition it heads for
Najib to step down before snap general elections are held. And this is one of
the key reasons why Najib, who once preferred to delay elections until the
latest possible date, is now rushing for polls to be held in November. To wait
would only give his rivals more room to maneuver his ouster.
"Najib is now a
liability to Umno and BN because of his baggage from the past. Because of his
scandals, he is a walking time-bomb and can bring further disaster to Umno and
BN. The drop in popularity rating is only the tip of the iceberg," PKR
strategies director Rafizi Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.
"There is also his mismanagement of the economy, the
Bersih rally, the sodomy trial against Anwar Ibrahim, the dubious ISA repeals
and the insistence that Malaya was never a colony. All these issues have
boomeranged while his personal scandals have risen with the international media
firms, his wife's diamond ring and expensive overseas trips on public expense.
All these seal his fate in Umno and his timespan as PM is now very
limited"
Casino Classic
Source : MC
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