French judges begins bribery probe

Malaysian PM's role in purchase of two French submarines, allegations of extortion and murder under scrutiny

A Paris court of inquiry has started an investigation that may finally link the dots between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, his country's purchase of two French submarines, bribes worth nearly $200 million, and the murder of a Mongolian model by his bodyguards.

The in-camera inquiry by judges Roger Le Loire and Serge Tournaire, who are highly experienced investigators in corruption and human rights cases, will try to discover if the French defence company DCNS and its project partner Thales International paid the bribes to secure the 2002 contract to supply two Scorpene submarines to the Malaysian navy.

Their inquiry will build on two years of investigation and evidence-gathering by French police. The deal was done while Najib was defence minister, and attention is focused on the role played by Najib's close friend and policy adviser, Abdul Razak Baginda.

French officials have let it be known they are especially interested in two payments by the French arms dealers. One was for 114 million euros ($148 million) and went to a Malaysian company called Perimekar for "logistical support." Perimekar was at the time wholly owned by a company which was con-trolled by Razak Baginda and his wife, Mazalinda.

No More Hope for Sukau Villagers

KOTA KINABALU: The Kampung Sukau people were disappointed with the Federal Court on 21.02.2012 for refusing to invoke their inherent powers under rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995 to set aside a court order obtained by Campo Sdn Bhd to evict them. 


They were represented by Ken Yong, a practising lawyer,outspoken on NCR and land rights and Borneonisation cases, he is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Supreme Councillor (picture - second from left) Campo Sdn Bhd whose director is Nasir Yeo, a well known crony of Musa Aman claimed to have purchased the land where Kampung Sukau is located from a group of land applicants (picture - group from Kg Sukau at the KK High Court accompanied by SAPP members). The company then obtained a court order from the High Court to evict the Kampung Sukau people from the land where they have cultivated and lived for more than 20 years. 

However, the Kampung Sukau people discovered later that the land applications by the said group of land applicants had actually been rejected by the Lands and Survey Department. Some of the applicants from the said group had even passed away and their descendants claimed to inherit the 'land applications' as heirs. 

889,779 in Sabah are foreigners?

A website quoting the Malaysian Statistics Department claims that the number of foreigners in Sabah now stand at 889,779 as against 2,316,963 Malaysians. 

According to beritasemasa.com, the overall Sabah population reached 3.2 million as at 2010, but that the number of foreigners in Sabah "is closing in and have already hit 27 per cent."

It said the most foreigners are in Tawau (171,409), Sandakan (148,438), Kinabatangan (117,689), Kota Kinabalu (112,145) and Lahad Datu (77,003), respectively

Source: DailyExpress Online February 16, 2012