Pro-establishment group Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) claims that PKR's Batu MP Tian Chua and human rights NGO Suaram have lied to the public about the Scorpene submarines case in France.

JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah said Tian Chua told Parliament on two occasions that the French authorities were merely carrying out a probe into the matter, but he told the public that a court case was going on in France.

According to Azwanddin, a Nov 21 entry in the Hansard of the Dewan Rakyat quotes Tian Chua, who is a PKR vice-president, as saying not once but twice that there is no court case on the matter.

"I think Tian Chua and Suaram are misleading the public by telling the people that the matter has been taken to court. This is proven not from what I say but what the lawmaker said in Parliament as recorded in the Hansard .

"Page 160 of the Hansard quotes Tian Chua as saying, "We go back to the Hansard . I tidak pernah sebut perbicaraan." (I did not say it is a hearing).

NONE "On page 161, Tian Chua ( left ) is quoted to have said, "Saya tidak pernah kata Perancis ada perbicaraan (I did not say there is a hearing in France)," Azwanddin told a press conference yesterday.

However, he said there were SMSes circulating over the past year that there was a trial going on in France on the Scorpene matter and that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would be subpoenaed.

While Azwanddin did not state who were behind the SMSes, he went on to accuse Tian Chua and Suaram of announcing at ceramah sessions that a court case on Malaysia's purchase of the two Scorpene submarines is on-going in Paris.

azlan "That is misleading. The matter is nothing more than a probe, like the police do in investigating a case. It is not that a person has been brought to court to be charged.

"However, Suaram and the opposition have been misleading the public and this is proven in the Hansard with Chua admitting that it's only a probe. I hope the public will understand this and not be duped," Azwanddin said yesterday, as he displayed a copy of the parliamentary Hansard .

When told that France has a different judicial system, where the Scorpene probe was carried out by French judges, Azwanddin nevertheless insisted that Tian Chua had misled the public.

French lawyers scared of lawsuit

Azwanddin also accused Suaram's French lawyers for being afraid to hold a press conference on the Scorpene matter in Malaysia, but instead held it in Singapore.

The reason for this, he said, was that had they held their press conference in Malaysia, chances were that legal action could be taken against them.

"Hence, they held it overseas in a neighbouring country where there is no legal liability," Azwanddin added.

NONE One of Suaram's French lawyers, Apoline Cagnat ( right ), told Malaysian MPs in Singapore last Tuesday that seven names had been submitted as possible witnesses on the matter and these were accepted by the French judiciary.

Najib and his close friend, former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, are considered the most important on the list.

The others are Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu's father Setev Shaariibuu, private investigator P Balasubramaniam, Boustead Holdings Bhd group managing director and deputy chairperson Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and one Jasbir Singh Chahl, who is said to be Abdul Razak's right-hand man.

ops scorpene dinner 220711 willian bourdon According to Suaram, the briefing was held in Singapore as the French lawyers expected deportation by the Malaysian authorities once they land in Kuala Lumpur.

On July 22 last year, French lawyer William Bourdon ( left ) came to Kuala Lumpur from Penang to speak at a Suaram fund-raising dinner.

However, he was picked up at the airport and deported after the Immigration Department accused him flouting immigration regulations.