France’s Thales under investigation over Malaysia submarine deal linked to ex-PM Najib Razak, denies accusations
- French company Thales is charged with complicity in bribery over a sale of submarines in 2010 in a deal signed by former prime minister Najib Razak
- Razak was Defence Minister when the deal was made to buy three vessels from French dockyards, now part of Thales, in a deal worth US$1.2 billion
French defence group Thales on Wednesday confirmed that the company and several individuals were under investigation for corruption over an arms deal with Malaysia dating back to 2002.
Thales said it would be contesting the accusations and would ask for the probe to be cancelled.
A French judge charged Thales with complicity in bribery over a sale of submarines to Malaysia. The long-running case into alleged kickbacks was opened in 2010 and eventually caught out the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
Najib was defence minister when the deal was signed to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta submarine from French naval dockyards unit DCN, now part of Thales, in a deal worth US$1.2 billion.
Najib’s associate Abdul Razak Baginda acted as an adviser on the deal, and he is accused of disguising the kickback of more than 114 million euros (US$121 million at the present-day exchange rate) as “consulting work” by a firm in which he was the largest shareholder.