French list Malaysian PM Najib Razak in bribery case file
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing a new front in a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal bedevilling his administration, with French investigators probing whether he received bribes as defence minister in a $1.2 billion submarine contract.
The investigation centres on Thales International Asia’s 2002 contract to deliver two submarines to the Malaysian government and whether the company’s former president, Bernard Baiocco, indirectly paid kickbacks to Mr Najib to secure the deal.
Mr Baiocco was indicted last December for allegedly paying commissions to Abdul Razak Baginda, a political analyst purportedly close friend of Mr Najib.
But Britain’s Financial Times cited sources close to the investigation — including Mr Baiocco’s lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne — confirming that judicial documents also named Mr Najib as a suspected recipient.
All three men have denied any wrongdoing, with Mr Baginda telling the Financial Times he received $US47 million in legitimate consulting fees for his role in securing the Scorpene submarine deal but paid no bribes.
A Malaysian government spokesman dismissed the allegations as “baseless smears for political gain”, saying Mr Najib had received no correspondence from French prosecutors.
The Paris probe come less than a fortnight after Malaysian Attorney-General Mohamad Apandi Ali cleared Mr Najib over a $US681m transfer into his bank account from accounts connected with the 1MDB state investment fund.
Mr Apandi found the money was a personal gift from the Saudi royal family to help fund Mr Najib’s 2013 election campaign and to counter the influence of Islamic extremism in Malaysia — an explanation Riyadh has refused to confirm or deny.
However, the Sarawak Report, an online journalism site which has led coverage of 1MDB scandal, offered an alternative narrative. It alleged the single Saudi source cited in some reports to have confirmed the gift was Nawaf Obaid, a spin doctor employed on occasions and at some cost by the Malaysian government to bolster its image.
The former spin doctor, who previously held a post in the Saudi regime, is also connected with PetroSaudi, a Middle East oil company implicated in the alleged misappropriation of as much as $US4 billion from 1MDB, through his brother Tarek Obaid who was its former director, the report claimed.
PetroSaudi is now under investigation by Swiss, Singaporean and US agencies on suspicion of having helped siphon hundreds of millions from 1MDB.
The Sarawak Report claims to have traced the money trail from PetroSaudi’s own emails, thanks to former PetroSaudi employee turned whistleblower Xavier Justo, who is in a Thai jail for blackmailing his former employer.
It also questions suggestions the donation to Mr Najib may have come in part from the late Saudi king Abdullah’s seventh son Prince Turki, a 50 per cent shareholder in PetroSaudi, citing JPMorgan confirmation statements showing $US77m actually flowed out of 1MDB into Prince Turki’s accounts.
While Mr Najib has urged Malaysians to accept his exoneration and move on from the issue, the Paris probe means the Prime Minister is facing another front in his battle to remain in power.
He has already removed officials who have questioned his involvement in the 1MDB affair, and this week forced the resignation of Mukhriz Mahathir, chief minister of Kedah State and son of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Both men have played key roles in a so-far unsuccessful campaign within the ruling UMNO party to unseat Mr Najib.
The Scorpene submarine deal now under French investigation is notorious in Malaysia because of its link to the murder of a young Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaaribu. Shaaribu had been in a relationship with Mr Baginda and acted as a translator during the deal but later accused him of failing to pay her $500,000 fee.
Sirul Azhar Umar, one of two police officers from a government close protection unit convicted of her murder but freed on bail pending an appeal, fled to Australia where he is being held in Sydney’s Villawood detention centre.
Rumours that both Mr Baginda and the Prime Minister himself were linked to her murder have dogged Mr Najib, though both were cleared of involvement during a 2008 trial.
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by Ganesh Sahathevan
Overlooked in this week's reporting is this revelation ,with regards a report lodged with Hong Kong Police
by UMNO whistle-blower Khairuddin Hassan:
Four other companies are also suspect, added Khairuddin, because Najib is a signatory here and the accounts of the companies show that a
total of RM1.125 billion has been kept at the Hong Kong branch of Credit Suisse. “I have requested the Hong Kong police to conduct comprehensive and detailed investigations on the financial sources of the companies concerned and their transactions.”
“I requested the authorities concerned to investigate Alliance Assets International Ltd; Cityfield Enterprises Ltd; Bartingale International Ltd; Wonder Quest Investments Ltd. All these companies have Najib as the signatory.
Khairuddin, at the same time, also lodged another set of police reports on Jynwell Capital (HK); Jynwell Charitable Foundation; and Strategic Resources (Global Ltd), all owned by Jho Low and family.
It has been established that the report included this document,which suggests that monies were transferred from Najib's AMislamic Bank and Singapore accounts to accounts at Credit Suisse's branch in Hong Kong:
The report against Larry Low concerns the Low family's takeover of Coastal Energy , a company formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.It has been alleged that the takeover was funded in part with funds from 1 MDB.The report points the finger at Tan Sri Larry Low as the mastermind of his son Jho Low's adventures. The reports taken together suggest a base of operations in Hong Kong.
END
Posted
3rd September 2015 by Anonymous
