LONDON: Private investigator P Balasubramiam is on his way to Paris, where he will be a key witness in investigations into suspected corruption in the Malaysian purchase of submarines.
He is due to meet French investigators at 8 pm Malaysian time.
A source said French police had officially contacted him and told him they were keen to record his statement this afternoon in Paris at police headquarters in Nanterre Prefecture.
Bala is travelling with lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.
Malaysia completed the acquisition of the two Scorpene submarines last year, but the deal with DCNS, a French defence conglomerate, was struck in 2002, when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was defence minister. Najib led the negotiations with the French government.
The probe is focused on a €114 million (US$151.1 million) commission paid to a company called Perimekar, which investigators suspect was established in 2001 purely to receive the kickback.
Perimekar is a subsidiary of KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which is controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda, a close Najib associate and lover of the late Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was a translator in the deal. Abdul Razak was charged with abetting in her murder but was eventually acquitted.
Balasubramaniam, whom Abdul Razak hired to keep Altantuya from harassing him for money, has alleged that Najib had a relationship with the murdered Mongolian.
In an interview broadcast on YouTube, Bala — as he is known to Malaysians — also claims that he was a victim in a high-level conspiracy to cover Najib’s tracks in the Altantuya affair.
He alleges that he was bribed and blackmailed to leave Malaysia and that the culprits were Najib’s brother, Nazim, and carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan, a close friend of the Prime Minister’s wife.
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