Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein denied the government's deportation of French lawyer William Bourdon was due to fear that he would reveal the latest findings on the Scorpene submarines and implicate Prime Minister Najib Razak for alleged corruption and graft in the RM7 billion acquisition.
According to Hisham, who is also Najib's cousin, "people get deported every day". And Bourdon was just a statistic.
“He broke the conditions of his visa. Because this is a high-profile case, people are selectively choosing to say it is political. People get deported every day,” Hisham told reporters on Monday.
“I don’t know what it is but certainly he cannot give a speech,” when pressed on what condition in the visa had been broken.
Hisham was immediately panned for lying and helping Najib to cover up the Scorpene scandal, which could open the Pandora's box to another mess that Najib has also been implicated in - the Altantuya Shariibuu murder.
""How could giving a speech breach visa conditions. What did Bourdon say that violated our laws and immigration regulations. We can in fact check back in his speech, which was taped. It was only modestly critical, no specific allegation except that more truth on the submarines kickbacks will emerge in due time. This indicates the Najib regime is running scared," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
Be brave, Malaysians
Bourdon, a human rights lawyer and activist, was hired by top Malaysian NGO Suaram to file a complaint against the vendor of the submarines, French arms giant DCN. It is illegal in France to pay bribes to secure a deal and if found guilty DCN can be forced to pay compensation for overpricing the deal paid for by Malaysian taxpayers.
Also, in the course of the trial - due for open court hearing in September - the identities of those who accepted the kickbacks would have to be revealed. This would pressure the BN federal government to take action against the culprits, whereas, currently the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has refused to investigate the allegations of bribery despite various parties lodging police complaints and even offering evidence of the kickbacks received.
Najib has denied all involvement and the government has termed a 114 million euros or RM570 million side-deal given to his friend Razak Baginda's Perimekar firm a co-ordination and maintence contract, although Perimekar has no track record at all in the submarines industry. The Najib administration has also ignored calls for any investigation.
Last week, Bourdon spoke at a dinner engagement in Penang, organised by Suaram to raise funds for the Parisian trial. He had flown in from Europe to Penang and was due to give two more briefings that would progressively impart greater details as to the personalities involved including a VIP believed to be Najib. He also had the latest information from the French police, who had uncovered fresh payments of commission from DCN to Malaysian parties.
Malevolence
However, Bourdon landed at the KLIA on Friday, immigration officers immediately boarded the plan amd detained for long hourse. At 11.30pm, he was put on a flight back to Paris.
As if sensing malevolence, Bourdin had in Penang urged Malaysians to be brave in their fight against top-level corruption. While in detention, he issued a statement and denied he had broken any laws.
"I have not violated any law in Malaysia and strongly protest my detention," Bourdon's statement written in French read.
"I do not understand the rationale of this detention; secondly, I have acted professionlly as Suaram's lawyer; and thirdly, I only came to explain the details of the Scorpenes lawsuit."
Najib, the defense minister at that time, had ordered the acquisition of the submarines abainst public outcry that the deal was too highly-priced and the high-tech submarines not suitable to Malaysia's shallow coatsline.
