A witness in the French inquiry on Malaysia's procurement of two submarines from France will address the audience at Suaram's upcoming fund raising dinner on July 19.

NONE Suaram is keeping the identity of the witness under wraps, but Suaram board member Cynthia Gabriel ( right ) promised that it would be a "surprise" for the donors.

The witness has testified at the French judical inquiry and is expected to recount his testimony as well as questions asked by the French investigating judges.

Gabriel, when contacted, said that Malaysians are now "close to the truth" surrounding the controversy, but Suaram had run out of funds to pursue the case.

She said that Suaram's legal team had predicted that the hearing would last another 12 months and the group hopes to raise RM200,000 through the event.

'Mother of all graft cases'

Thus far, the response for the event has been described as "lukewarm", with only half of the tickets sold.

"It would be a grave disappointment to our future generation if this mother of all corruption case is to be dropped at this point," she said.

Suaram is charging RM150 per person for the 80 table event at the Petaling Jaya City Council Civic Centre.

In 2009, Suaram lodged a complaint with the French courts which led to an inquiry involving two investigating judges.

The heart of the allegations was that French submarine builder DCNS paid more than 114 million euros (RM458 million) to a purported shell company linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, a former confidante of then defence minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Critics in Malaysia claim that such payments were kickbacks, which is illegal under French laws.