PARIS (Aug 1): Abdul Razak Baginda, an adviser who is closely linked to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been charged here over alleged kickbacks in the purchase of Scorpene submarines, AFP reported.

Quoting a judicial source, AFP reported that Razak Baginda was charged on July 18 with "active and passive complicity in corruption" and "misappropriation of corporate assets".

AFP reported that an investigation into the purchase of submarines by the Royal Malaysian Navy in 2002 was launched in 2010 following a complaint lodged by Malaysian rights group Suaram.

As part of the deal French naval dockyards unit DCN agreed to pay 30 million euros to French defence group Thales' Asian unit, Thales International Asia (Thint Asia).

The investigation revealed that another company, Terasasi, whose main shareholder was Razak Baginda, received an equivalent sum for what was stated as consultancy work, but which investigators believe was really a front for kickbacks, AFP reported.

Abdul Razak Baginda had advised Najib when he was defence minister between 2000 and 2008. It was during Najib's tenure as defence minister that the Malaysian government paid nearly one billion euros (US$1.18 billion) to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta-class submarine from DCN, which is linked to Thales.

Four French defence industry executives have already been charged in connection with the Scorpene deal. They are two former chairmen of DCNI, Philippe Japiot and Dominique Castellan, and two former heads of Thint Asia, Bernard Baiocco and Jean-Paul Perrier. All four men have denied the charges, AFP reported.

French investigators are also investigating allegations that 114 million euros were banked into a shell company called Perimekar, said to be based in Malaysia and controlled at that time by Razak Baginda's wife.

AFP reported that "the affair emerged spectacularly in 2006, when Abdul Razak's Mongolian mistress — who was said to have demanded a payoff for working as a language translator in the deal — was shot dead and her body blown up with plastic explosives near Kuala Lumpur".

A Malaysian court had acquitted Abdul Razak of abetting the murder.