Scorpene scandal: France subpoenas Razak Baginda’s aide, Jasbir Singh Chahl...
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Scorpene scandal: France subpoenas Razak Baginda’s aide, Jasbir Singh Chahl...
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- Scorpene scandal: France subpoenas Razak Baginda’s aide, Jasbir Singh Chahl...
- EC Powerful or Powerless?
- Meetings set for June 15-20th in attempt to end financial crisis
- Scorpene: Saksi Pertama Bakal Ke Mahkamah Perancis
- ‘Occupy Balok-Gebeng 24 Jam’ pada 23-24 Jun, 2012
- …and then there was Paulino Miranda
- Election Commission - BN Colludes to Cheat
- Is the PAC Sleeping?
- So much for the CCF hopefuls
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Scorpene scandal: France subpoenas Razak Baginda’s aide, Jasbir Singh Chahl... Posted: 16 Jun 2012 12:13 AM PDT  “Jasbir Singh is a central figure in the negotiation and procument process. “He is the first person to be served with a subpoena,” said Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel during Suaram’s Ops Scorpene fund raising dinner held at Petaling Jaya Civic Centre last night. Gabriel claimed that Jasbir would be required to cooperate and reveal information on what had transpired in the Scorpene submarine deal that was purchased in 2002 via French submarine maker DCNS. “He has confirmed that he would cooperate with the panel and the subpoena is being sent to his house,” Gabriel told the more than the 1,000-strong crowd present. “The story will now come from the horse’s mouth,” Gabriel said on the purchase of two Scorpene submarines from French shipbuilding company DCNS in 2002. Suaram lodged a complaint in November 2009 with the French courts asking for a judicial review into the Scorpene contract. The ongoing judicial inquiry at the Tribunal De Grande Instance in Paris is a result of this complaint. The inquiry is probing alleged corruption crimes and illegal bribes involving top officials from both Malaysia and France. The amount of money transferred to Perimekar Sdn Bhd is 550 million euros and Terasasi received 150 million euros. Najib, Zahid, Bala also subpoenaed Back in 2002, the Defence Ministry was led by current Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Gabriel also revealed that the two companies had used third countries within Europe to receive the payments. This was done to avoid Organisation for Economic and Social Development (OECD) rules that made the transactions a crime. “The payment to Malta included an invoice for Razak and (murdered Mongolian model and translator) Altantuya (Shaarriibbuu). “Investigations are ongoing to determine whether it is Najib Razak or Abdul Razak Baginda,” added Gabriel. Aside from Malta that acted as third countries for transactions to take place, Gabriel also revealed the other third countries as Luxemborg, Belgium and Ireland. Meanwhile Subang MP R Sivarasa revealed the names of others who would also be served with a subpoena notice. They are Najib, Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi, private investigator P Balasubramaniam, Razak Baginda, Razak’s wife Mazlinda Makhzan and Razak’s father, Abdul Malim Baginda. Both Razak and Malim are Terasasi directors. Razak is also director of Perimekar with Mazlinda. BN silent on issue In a related development the prominent human rights organisation also rubbished allegations that they were tools of PKR especially due to the fact that many Suaram key members were PKR members as well. “We are alleged to be political and not independent. We invite members of the opposition because they are consistent in addressing this issue (Scorpene scandal) in parliament and they are committed for the cause. “We have no problem if anyone from BN or any other polittical parties raises the corruption in this scandal to the public without prejudice but no one from the BN government has done so. Zero reaction,” said Suaram’s executive director, E Nalini. She said this in response to queries on Suaram’s independence as well as allegations that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was using Suaram to discredit the government. She also brushed the detractors as “a drop in the ocean” that would not be able to side track Suaram from pursuing the truth. “You can insult, slander and try to discredit all of us here, but, what is important for Suaram is the truth. Upholding human rights is our only priority,” Nalini said.-FMT  French court subpoenas Razak Baginda's confidante... The first subpoena seeking testimonies for the French probe into alleged kickbacks to a Malaysian political figure over the the 2002 purchase of a pair of Scorpene submarines, has been delivered last night, according to NGO Suaram.  "As we sit at the dinner tables right this moment, a subpoena is on the way to Mr Jalbir Singh Chahl's house. “The case is moving forward more concretely," announced Suaram coordinator Cynthia Gabriel (right) who is spearheading the case for the human rights NGO. Speaking at a fundraising dinner for their project ‘Ops Scorpene’, Gabriel said Jasbir was Abdul Razak Baginda's right hand man in Perimekar, the company that acted as middleman for the procurement of the submarines, through which over RM500 million in alleged “commissions” have been channelled. Suaram was the interested party that lodged a complaint with the French judiciary to start the probe into the alleged illegal kickbacks on the sale of the submarines from French shipbuilder DCNS.  The French courts had ruled that the NGO has locus standi to initiate the proceedings as a body concerned about transparency and corruption in Malaysia.Abdul Razak himself was the close confidante of then defence minister and present prime minister Najib Razak (left). The former stands accused of accepting millions in "consultancy fees" on Najib's behalf allegedly to 'grease' the deal. Gabriel said that Jasbir was privy to a lot of information about the deal, as he was point-man in the negotiations between DCNS and Perimekar. "He has confirmed his cooperation with us," Gabriel said further, expressing anticipation that his insider's testimony would shed more light into the Scorpene scandal. 'RM200,000 raised' Gabriel explained that Jasbir was the first in Suaram’s list of witnesses accepted by the French inquiry, with other subpoenas to follow suit.  Others named as witnesses include Abdul Razak (left) himself, his wife Mazlinda Makhzan who is a director at Perimekar, Najib, current defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, private investigator P Balasubramaniam and former Perimekar director Lodin Wok Kamarudin.She however explained to the audience that the proceedings is still at the preliminary stage, akin to the initial stage of opening an investigation paper, albeit performed by the French judiciary and not by law enforcement authorities. The French judiciary had agreed to follow through with the inquiry after France's state prosecutor dropped investigations into the complaint, some claim due to political and diplomatic pressure. The dinner that was attended by over a thousand donors, supporters and volunteers involved in efforts to uncover the alleged corruption behind the deal, dubbed ‘Ops Scorpene’, saw over RM200,000 raised for their French probe war chest. The funds were raised through ticket sales and auctions.  Ten exclusive green T-shirts with artwork depicting the Scorpene saga were sold off ranging from RM300 to RM2,000 each, while a painting by local political cartoonist Zunar (right) was auctioned off for RM5,000.Gabriel explained that the funds will mostly go to the retainer for their French lawyers William Bourdon and Joseph Breham, which can run up to RM12,000 a month, as well as legal, translation, travel and other expenses. She said that in line with Suaram's policy of transparency, the full accounting of all funds collected and spent are listed in a financial report on their website.  Bourdon made a cameo appearance during the dinner via a long distance phone call, expressing his regret that he cannot be with the audience last night.He said he is confident that the inquiry will soon shed more light into the scandal and eventually bring those in the wrong to justice. The case has already uncovered a continent-crossing trail that spans from France to Pakistan to Malta to Malaysian shores. The Malaysian government deported Bourdon last year for allegedly abusing the terms of his social visit pass after speaking at a Suaram dinner, and has been allegedly denied a work permit to enter Malaysia in relation to the Scorpene case. 'Suaram not opposition tool' Earlier, Suaram executive director E Nalini hit out at those who disparaged the NGO and its efforts, vehemently denying the "false allegations" that the NGO is an opposition tool and had been paid to pursue the scandal.  "I take affront at these outright (allegations), which do not mention the support (we have received) from ordinary Malaysians."She argued that they had invited opposition personalities to their function as they have shown consistent support for Suaram's fight against corruption, something she claimed BN politicians had shown only lukewarm interest in. "We are open to any support in the fight against corruption," she said, reminding that the fight is not Suaram’s but one that is on the behalf of all ordinary Malaysians interested in ending corruption. Also present at the dinner were several opposition politicians, three of whom also addressed the audience: PKR Subang MP R Sivarasa, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and DAP national publicity director Tony Pua (above). All three spoke about the deplorable state of corruption in the country, whose perpetrators walk away scot free, urging the audience to vote Pakatan into Putrajaya in the upcoming 13th general election to put an end to this.- malaysiakini  Mahkamah Perancis sepina orang kanan Razak Baginda... Sepina pertama untuk mendapatkan testimoni dalam siasatan di Perancis berhubung dakwaan sogokan terhadap seorang tokoh politik Malaysia berkaitan pembelian dua kapal selam Scorpene pada 2002, telah diserahkan malam tadi, demikian menurut Suaram. "Ketika kita sedang duduk di meja makan malam pada saat ini, satu sepina kini dalam perjalanan ke rumah Encik Jalbir Singh Chahl," umum Penyelaras Suaram, Cynthia Gabriel (kanan) yang menerajui kes tersebut untuk NGO hak asasi manusia itu. Bercakap di majlis makan malam bagi mengumpul dana bagi projek mereka 'Ops Scorpene', Gabriel berkata Jasbir adalah orang kanan Abdul Razak Baginda di Perimekar - syarikat yang bertindak sebagai orang tengah bagi perolehan kapal selam tersebut, di mana lebih RM500 juta "komisen" didakwa telah disalurkan. - malaysiakini  cheers. 
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Posted: 16 Jun 2012 12:21 AM PDT EC indeed has power to reject registration, says DAP
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng 1:39PM Jun 6, 2012 DAP today attempted to prove that contrary to the Election Commission’s (EC) earlier claim, the panel actually has the power to reject the registration of voters with incomplete or inaccurate details. During a press conference held at the party’s headquarters this morning, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and national publicity secretary Tony Pua (right) furnished the party’s records that showed voter registration forms submitted to the commission had been rejected due to various reasons. These reasons include the addresses given by the voters were different from the addresses recorded in their MyKad, voters did not state their religion in the forms or they had given a different religion from the one recorded in their MyKad. Those forms were submitted to the state EC office last year by DAP assistant registrars appointed by the EC. “They told us the forms were incomplete so they were rejected, so it is within their power to do so,” Tony said. “Hence the comment made by the EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof was completely reckless. He was trying to defend the indefensible action of registering dodgy voters to support the government.” Pua was referring to Abdul Aziz’s statement to Malaysiakini yesterday that the commission has no right to reject the registration of voters with incomplete and dubious addresses as long as they are in the records of the National Registration Department (NRD). If these registrations receive no objection from local residents and are subsequently gazetted, whatever critics have to comment would have no effect unless the voters themselves applied for changes, Abdul Aziz added. Abdul Aziz was asked to comment on political researcher Ong Kian Ming's recent findings that many new voters registered by a government agency (not the EC) have code 71 in their identity numbers but without house numbers and street names. Code 71 indicates that those voters were born outside of Malaysia. The lack of complete addresses make it difficult for political parties to trace these voters and verify if they are valid voters in the areas they are registered. Ong further raised the question whether these dubious voters were given identity cards by the NRD to vote in the election.  
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Meetings set for June 15-20th in attempt to end financial crisis Posted: 15 Jun 2012 11:56 PM PDT … Benjamin Fulford, June 12, 2012 There will be a series of both secret and public high-level meetings from June 15 to June 20th aimed at ending the financial crisis that threatens to collapse the Western world’s banking sector, according to multiple sources. The hope is that the G20 meeting set to start on June [...]
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Scorpene: Saksi Pertama Bakal Ke Mahkamah Perancis Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:56 PM PDT PETALING JAYA 16 Jun: Saksi pertama kes skandal penyelewengan kapal selam Scorpene akan hadir ke mahkamah Perancis kerana sapina terhadapnya telah dikeluarkan, kata Pengarah Suaram, Cynthia Gabriel. Saksi berkenaan katanya, adalah Jasbir Singh Chal, bekas Pengarah Perimekar Sdn Bhd yang juga pembantu kanan Abdul Razak Baginda. Cynthia mengumumkan perkara itu di akhir Majlis Makan Malam Kutipan Dana Ops Scorpene anjuran Suaram yang dihadiri kira-kira 1000 orang, malam tadi. “Kita patut merasa gembira dengan perkembangan kes ini kerana saksi pertama iaitu Jasbir Singh, saksi yang terlibat dan mengetahui banyak maklumat akan dipanggil ke mahkamah (Perancis) kerana sapina sedang dalam perjalanan ke rumahnya,” kata Chynthia. Menurut Chynthia beliau difahamkan Jasbir bersetuju untuk memberi kerjasama bagi membantu perjalanan kes itu. Selain Jasbir, individu lain yang akan turut dipanggil termasuk Perdana Menteri, Dato Seri Najib Razak; pemilik Perimekar Sdn Bhd dan Terasasi (HK) Limited, Abdul Razak Baginda serta isteri dan bapanya. “Kes ini semakin terdedah sedikit demi sedikit, secara perlahan-lahan, jadi agak kurang bijak bagi seorang menteri pertahanan untuk mengatakan tidak terlibat, “Manakala seorang timbalan perdana menteri berkata ‘no comment’ dan tindakan bodoh untuk seorang Perdana Menteri berkata ‘saya tidak perlu jawab,” kata Chyntia sinis. “Disebabkan itu tema kita pada malam ini (majlis makan malam) ialah ‘you can run but you cannot hide’ yang bermaksud ‘anda boleh lari tetapi anda tidak akan boleh sembunyi’ dengan makna tersirat ditujukan kepada pengkhianat negara yang terlibat,” jelasnya.
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‘Occupy Balok-Gebeng 24 Jam’ pada 23-24 Jun, 2012 Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:20 PM PDT ABU menegaskan kepada seluruh rakyat Malaysia bahawa pemerintahan Perdana Menteri Umno/BN yang pekak badak dan bodoh sombong di bawah telunjuk de-facto PM Tun Dr Mahathir ini pasti akan terus berdegil untuk meneruskan projek berbahaya ini demi keuntungan kapitalis dan kepentingan pemodal asing Oleh itu, ABU menyeru supaya seluruh rakyat Malaysia bersatu hati melakukan Asalkan Bukan [...]
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…and then there was Paulino Miranda Posted: 15 Jun 2012 09:41 PM PDT And who is Paulino Miranda, you ask? Read about him in the Malaysianinsider. A man of the cloth who walks the talk. The report has got two bits of detail wrong. Firstly, the incident took place on 9th November, 2008. Secondly, and more importantly, there was no order from the police to disperse before they [...]
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Election Commission - BN Colludes to Cheat Posted: 15 Jun 2012 09:22 PM PDT 'EC-BN collusion clear in snub S'gor call'
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng 2:39PM Jun 6, 2012 The DAP sees “clear evidence of collusion” between the Election Commission (EC) and the BN, based on calls to the public to snub the Selangor government’s voter verification exercise. “There can't be clearer evidence of collusion between the EC and the BN especially Umno,” said DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua at a press conference this morning. “It is completely illogical because the EC should be thanking the Selangor government for cleaning up the electoral roll for them ... (instead) the EC is defending a dirty electoral roll... If the electoral roll is clean, why are they so afraid of our cleaning exercise?” Pua was responding to EC deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar’s advice to voters not to cooperate with the Selangorku Bersih campaign, as he is worried this may “create uneasiness”. Wan Ahmad reportedly said the public have the right to decide whether or not they want to show their MyKad to campaign workers, and advised against handing over the document too easily. He was echoing Selangor Umno deputy chief Noh Omar's stance that the campaign amounts to abuse of power as only the EC has the authority to verify voters' identity. Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (left in photo) had recently launched the campaign, which is mobilising civil servants and village development and security committee members to clean up the electoral roll. They will conduct house-to-house visits to verify the identity of voters registered at the addresses and raise objections should they fail to locate the voters. This is in response to the discovery of a spike in the number of voters in the state. Pakatan Rakyat has alleged that this may involve irregularities and fraud, including the registration of foreigners as voters, and the transfer of voters into the state.  
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Posted: 15 Jun 2012 09:12 PM PDT PAC’s failure to meet is attempt to cover up scandals, say Pakatan MPs
By Shannon Teoh June 14, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) failure to meet in more than three months suggests a bid to cover up financial scandals involving the incumbent federal government, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) members of the panel alleged today. They told a press conference here that despite the parliamentary committee resolving on March 5, 2012 to prioritise four top issues involving government expenditure worth close to RM9 billion including the RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) scandal, no meetings have been called since the end of March. “This clearly shows that there is a cover-up order from the very top. The PAC chief has been told not to hold meetings as they could have a negative impact on Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances of retaining power,” DAP’s Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua told reporters. PAS’s Tumpat MP Kamaruddin Jaafar also added that “what has been spent has not been resolved but now we are spending another RM13.8 billion,” referring to Putrajaya’s tabling of a supplementary supply Bill earlier today. DAP vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw (picture), who is also PAC deputy chief, said the five opposition members of the panel had sent a letter to panel chief Datuk Seri Azmin Khalid requesting that the committee be convened as soon as possible to look into the four controversial cases. The cases are the NFCorp in which former Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and her family are accused of abusing a RM250 million federal loan, Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli’s confidential out-of-court settlement with Danaharta over his RM589 million debt, 1 Malaysia Development Bhd’s RM3.5 billion Petrosaudi investment and the cost of KLIA2 surging by RM2.2 billion to RM3.9 billion. The PAC had on March 21 also decided to carry on with the NFC probe despite Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s orders that it cannot touch on criminal charges against Shahrizat’s husband and NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. The order came just a day after the Wanita Umno chief’s family, who own NFCorp, refused to face the committee. Dewan Rakyat had also rejected questions from four DAP lawmakers in March concerning the Tajudin-Danaharta settlement which politicians from across the divide said was a matter of public interest, saying it could not discuss issues being deliberated in court. The four MPs had all asked Putrajaya to reveal details of the settlement and how it benefits the public as the former Malaysia Airlines chairman had already been ordered by the High Court to pay the RM589 million he owed Danaharta, which was set up to take over bad debts during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.  
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Posted: 15 Jun 2012 05:31 PM PDT As expected, Tony Fernandes would do something erratic when things don’t go his way. His failure to gain control of Malaysia Airlines via the recently reversed ‘Share Swap’ which was inked 9 August last year, saw AirAsia being migrated to Jakarta.
When Khazanah Holdings Bhd which is the shareholders of both airlines announced the reversal of ‘Share Swap’ six weeks ago, the Collaborative Co-operation Framework (CCF) between Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia would remain. The rational is for the national agenda, where the two airlines continue to work together and build the competency of the national civil aviation and commercial air carrier preparation ahead of ASEAN’s Open Sky policy by 2015.  AirAsia’s mishap in KCH. Everytime this happens, they need Malaysia Airlines engineering to help them sort things out The two airlines are supposed to work together on maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO), ground operations and training, on top of joint acquisition programs from aircraft companies or spares suppliers, for the economies of scale. There you have it. Fernandes wasn’t interested at all on the national agenda all along. He was interested only for his own agenda. This announcement is nothing new. Last July, Fernandes did threaten to move AirAsia to Jakarta. However, it was believed that he was ‘pacified’ not to carry out that plan. Conveniently, a few weeks later the ‘Share Swap’ deal came about where Fernandes and his partner Kamaruddin Meranun gained control into the Malaysia Airlines BOD and management, even though they were only 20% shareholders. The Jakarta Globe reported this July last year:
Despite the Federal Government and nation gave him a lot and tremendous concessions and space for him to prop his AirAsia up to this point, the bottom of the day everything is measured on how much money he would make. It was a ‘directive’ that AirAsia be sold off for a token RM 1.00 eleven years ago, even though the owners then had over RM 30 million secured Armed Forces contract to ferry troops to and fro between Semenanjung and Sabah and Sarawak. Then the constant complaint about “Malaysia Airlines being a big bully” and “Not willing to co-operate”. AirAsia was allowed to go ahead with its flexible ticket pricing at the expense of Malaysia Airlines where Ministry of Transport (MOT) insisted the the national carrier must have a floor fixed price for tickets, based on IATA formula. Then the perpetual complaints on Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB). The constant bitching did not go without AirAsia refusal to pay up all monies collected at source from passengers, where at a point the disputed amount was recorded at RM 114 million. The ‘Level Four’ final Airline Rationalisation Plan in May 2006 saw many of Malaysia Airlines domestic routes were ‘transferred’ to AirAsia, especially in Sabah and Sarawak. The most significant as Rural Air Service (RAS) where these routes came with heavy Federal Government subsidy. Fernandes took these RAS routes and parked it under FAX. After a few months, he handed over RAS to Federal Government where the service had to be passed back to Malaysia Airlines to continue. All of these allowed AirAsia to build their book and demonstrated extensive growth in passengers and routes. With that, they convinced international financiers and went listed on Bursa Malaysia. Then the nation should not forget Fernandes’s attempt to ride on Sime Darby for proposed the low cost carrier dedicated airport in Labu. It was the bloggers who went against this vehemently and failed the attempt. The soonest opportunity presented itself when Fernandes was appointed into BOD of Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier was ‘suckered of’ RM 18 million for sponsorship for his own private venture in English Premier League bottom-rung Queen’s Park Rangers. This is despite Fernandes’s agreement with Khazanah MD Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, as the attention on the former is great. The latest controversy was Fernandes’s way of going to the media and bitch against MAHB, especially during the final leg before the full picture of the much anticipated dedicated new LCCT terminal dubbed ‘KLIA 2′ was let out for public consumption. It was revealed that Fernandes consistently used the media in bitching overtones instead the proper channel to solve some of the issues. The maestro of wayang tinggi opera has done it again and taken everyone for a ride. It serves as reminder that he cannot be trusted, at least from the perspective of the national agenda and ‘big picture’. Federal Government and now, Perak State Government too should really be mindful of allowing this man any inch for their proposal. This dog has no qualms about biting the master’s hand the moment the treats don’t go his way.        
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