French lawyer Bourdon agrees to brief lawmakers

French lawyer William Bourdon, who represents Suaram in the Scorpene case, has indicated that he is willing to brief the Malaysian parliament on the matter.

This is provided that the authorities from the Umno and Barisan Nasional government can vouch for his safety when he comes.

The matter is related to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who met Bourdon in Paris today. The meeting was reported in Anwar’s Facebook page.

It was recently reported that Anwar had left for France to invite lawyers from Suaram and DCNS to brief the Malaysian parliament.

Bourdon was in Malaysia last year to attend a Suaram fund-raising dinner, but was deported.

Meanwhile, a group of pro-establishment NGOs has lodged a report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters urging that Anwar and three Pakatan parliamentarians be investigated for seeking to bring three foreign lawyers to brief Parliament about the Scorpene case in France.

Young Malaysian Journalists Club president Dzulkarnain Taib (left) questioned the motives of Anwar Ibrahim and Suaram in handling the case.

“In the case of the Scorpene submarine deal, what is Suaram’s interest? What interests do they have? Did they suffer losses from the deal?”

Hence, he requested the Home Ministry to investigate the matter as soon as possible.
‘Who is funding lawyers’ costs?’

Asked about whether a journalists’ club was a suitable organisation to lodge such a report, Dzulkarnain replied that the objective of the club, which claims to represent 100 journalists and has a pro-government stance, is to protect the national interest, hence he was taking the initiative.

Formerly the editor of PKR mouthpiece Suara Keadilan, Dzulkarnain claimed that the Scorpene case is an internal issue, and therefore the matter should be resolved domestically, not by inviting foreigners to intervene.

He also questioned who is paying for the three lawyers’ expenses in Malaysia, as he claimed the trio “charged significantly high (based) on a hourly rate”.

However, when contacted later, Dzulkarnain said that he does not have any media affiliation, but was only interested in “observing Malaysia and the media”.

Two days ago, PR parliamentarians announced that Anwar Ibrahim has invited Suaram lawyers William Bourdon and Joseph Breham as well as DCNS lawyer Olivier Metzner, to brief the MPs about the case.

The MPs were R Sivarasa (Subang-PKR), Tian Chua (Batu-PKR) and Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAS).

Bourdon was deported by Malaysian authorities in July for allegedly misusing his social visit pass for other purposes, while both lawyers were later denied working permits to visit Malaysia in their capacity as Suaram lawyers.