MALAYSIA’S anti-corruption body will send investigators to France to learn more of the French investigations into Malaysia’s 2002 purchase of submarines if it is true that Abdul Razak Baginda, former adviser of Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been charged with graft.

Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Dzulkifli Ahmad said the body was verifying the facts so that it could decide on the  next course of action.

“I have ordered my officer to get information on the real status of the case; whether it is on inquiry or prosecution stage,” Dzulkifli said in a talk show on national TV station, TV3, last night.

“We have to understand the difference (in laws). Here, we use common law jurisdiction while France uses civil law jurisdiction. In this case, it is based on a report.”

Dzulkifli said if Razak had been charged, he would have been arrested and brought to court before being released on court bail.

“But I’ve read that Razak has denied that he was charged. So I decided that MACC has to verify the information. I have instructed my officer to communicate with the French embassy here to get the correct information,” he said.

He said MACC was prepared to send a team to France if it was true that Razak had been charged with a crime.

“I will send my men there to check on the status of the case if it’s true,” he said.

Razak was charged in France on July 18 with “active and passive complicity in corruption” and “misappropriation of corporate assets”, a French judicial source told AFP.

Four French defence industry executives have been similarly charged since a probe into the submarines sale was initiated, sparked by a complaint from Malaysian rights group Suaram in 2010.

The four are former chairmen of DCNI, Philippe Japiot and Dominique Castellan, and former heads of Thint Asia, Bernard Baiocco and Jean-Paul Perrier.

All four men deny the charges.

Abdul Razak was Najib’s aide when the prime minister was defence minister between 2000 and 2008.

AFP reported that Najib oversaw the deal, worth nearly €1 billion (RM5 billion), to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta-class submarine in 2002 from French naval dockyards unit DCN, which is linked to French defence group Thales.

As part of the deal, DCN agreed to pay €30 million to Thales’ Asian unit, Thales International Asia (Thint Asia).

The investigation revealed that another company, Terasasi, in which  Razak is the main shareholder, received an equivalent sum for what was billed as consultancy work, but which investigators believe was really a front for kickbacks.

Then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the cabinet did not discuss the Scorpene purchase, adding he would have opposed the deal as Malaysia did not have the money for such purchases.

He told The Malaysian Insight the submarines were too expensive and not suited for shallow waters, especially in the Straits of Malacca.

The Royal Malaysian Navy commissioned the two submarines – KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Abdul Razak – in 2009. The submarines are still in active service. – August 3, 2017.