KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia deported a French lawyer who spoke about an upcoming corruption trial involving a $1.2 billion submarine deal that opposition leaders have sought to link to Malaysia’s prime minister, a human rights group said Saturday.
Malaysian authorities accused William Bourdon of unspecified immigration violations.
Bourdon spoke at a dinner in Malaysia’s northern Penang state Thursday about a French court case set for trial in September and had been scheduled to address a similar event in Kuala Lumpur late Saturday.
The case is linked to complaints filed by Malaysian rights group Suaram with a French prosecutor in 2009 alleging corruption in a 114 million euro ($164 million) fee that shipbuilder DCNS paid to Malaysian firm Perimekar Sdn. Bhd. to facilitate a submarine deal.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has denied any corruption. Najib was defense minister in 2002 when Malaysia ordered two diesel-electric Scorpene attack submarines as part of a naval upgrade. It has since received both the submarines.
Suaram said immigration officials detained Bourdon when he flew from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and put him on a plane to Paris shortly before midnight Saturday.
Bourdon told The Associated Press he was instructed to get a plane ticket home at his own expense. He said he told the officials that he didn’t understand the expulsion and that the decision lacks any justification.
“I told them I acted as a lawyer, in full respect of my duties and the rules of my profession, and in respect of international law and national laws,” he said in a phone interview before his deportation.
Malaysian Immigration Director General Alias Ahmad said in a statement that Bourdon “violated the terms of his social visit pass.” He did not elaborate, and other officials familiar with the matter could not immediately be reached.
In his talk Thursday, Bourdon gave an update about the status of the case, the French judicial system and what to expect from the trial. The Kuala Lumpur dinner event continued Saturday with speeches by Malaysian opposition leaders and a prerecorded video message by Bourdon.
Malaysian defense officials have said the fee was paid to Perimekar for coordination and support services. But critics argued that Perimekar was formed only a few months before the contract was inked, had no track record in submarine services and didn’t have the financial ability to support the contract.
Perimekar is owned by the wife of Abdul Razak Baginda, who once was Najib’s aide and a close friend.
Abdul Razak was acquitted in 2008 of abetting in the murder of his ex-mistress, a Mongolian woman. He confessed to having an affair with her and said she was blackmailing him. The woman was shot and her body blown up with military-grade explosives in October 2006.
Two policemen were convicted and sentenced to death for murdering the Mongolian. Suaram has said initial investigations by their French lawyers showed the Mongolian worked as a translator for Abdul Razak in the submarine deal.
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Associated Press writer Pierre-Antoine Souchard contributed to this report from Paris.
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