Man Behind Scorpene Deal Scuppers Suaram’s Campaign of Misinformation

The man behind the Scorpene submarine deal, Jasbir Singh Chahl, has finally told the story of the purchase and leaves Pakatan Rakyat and its sensationalist friends at Suaram with nowhere to hide.

He has told the New Straits Times that the 115 million euro sum which Suaram had portrayed as a corrupt payment was in fact the fully-accounted management fee paid to Perimekar Sdn Bhd. That sum was to cover logistics and training of the officers and men of the Royal Malaysian Navy's Submarine Force, who would be in charge of the technologically-advanced Scorpene fleet.

"The Scorpene was the best non-nuclear powered-submarine that we, as a nation, could have selected," he said of the lengthy selection process. But he added he was angry at having been sucked into the political point-scoring that has surrounded the issue.

"We've been made out to look like profiteers who just sat back and collected when, in fact, there was a lot of hard, tangible work, that was done," said Jasbir.

And he has further debunked the allegation that murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu was part of the negotiation team active in the discussions in France.

"I am willing to swear on my holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, that I did not know this person, that she was never part of the team, had never met her, that she was never in France during the entire time we were there trying to close the deal," he said.

This is supported by official French documents that state Altantuya didn't enter France at any time between 1999 and 2006, the year she died. There was also no requirement for her translation skills as all meetings were conducted in English.

This should by rights be the end of the Scorpene issue and Suaram's disreputable attempts to score points from it on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat. And it isn't the first time the facts have contradicted Suaram's claims. Last year the NGO was caught out portraying inquiries into the Scorpene deal in France as a "trial". When this was shown to be totally false Suaram engaged in some unedifying backtracking.

"Suaram has no control on how (the) media are reporting this matter," said Suaram board member Cynthia Gabriel at the time.

Suaram does however have control over its membership, which as The Choice has reported is essentially so many Opposition politicians and Opposition-aligned media personalities. Gabriel herself, of course, has benefited from political appointment by the PKR government of Selangor.

Jasbir's account has been seized upon by Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who attacked Suaram's tactics.

"The other side is busy putting up a show, so they are now collecting funds to hire lawyers for the case in France. For me, they can continue to solicit funds to enrich the lawyers, and the people should be careful not to be cheated in this issue," he said.

Jasbir has finally broken his silence because he has had enough of being portrayed as at best, a "profiteer" and at worst corrupt. His account of the Scorpene deal is a warning of just how easy it is to politicise large procurement projects when the sums involved are large and there are long-running commercially-sensitive confidential negotiations involved.

It's also a warning about the lengths to which Suaram – and by extension Pakatan Rakyat – will go to sensationalise an issue.