KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied on Wednesday the selling of top secret classified documents to a French company in order to secure a controversial submarine deal. Prime Minister Najib Razak has already dismissed the charges, which include allegations of corruption in the $1.1 billion submarine purchase in 2002. Razak was defense minister at the time and has accused the Malaysian opposition of attempting to use the deal for political gains ahead of elections, scheduled to take place within a year. Still, Malaysia's online media in the past couple of months have been active, charging the now Prime Minister with new “evidence” that opposition-leaning rights group Suaram and its lawyers say has been turned up by French judges probing the case. The claims come at a sensitive time for Najib, who is preparing for elections, which he is expected to call soon. They include an allegation that a classified Malaysian defense ministry report on the country's naval needs was sold to submarine maker Thales, possibly to help the French firm land the $1.1 billion deal. Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, responding to opposition allegations of abuse, told parliament late Tuesday that no confidential information leaked out, and the deal was done through “direct negotiations in accordance with procurement procedures.” “To the best knowledge of the ministry, up to now there is no information detected to have been taken out of Malaysia,” he said. “The ministry has never paid any commission directly or indirectly to any companies in the procurement of the Scorpene submarines.” At the request of Suaram, French judicial officials opened an investigation in March 2010 into the sale of the two Scorpene submarines, which were made by French shipbuilder giant DCNS. Suaram alleges DCNS, which owns Thales, paid a commission of 114 million euros ($142 million in current terms) to a company called Perimekar, which is linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, an associate of Razak's.
