September 26, 2007: A murder
trial in Malaysia has inadvertently revealed the extent of corruption in the
purchase of weapons for the Malaysian military. The murder victim, a Mongolian
woman working as a translator for the Malaysian government, became the lover of
a close friend of the corrupt Defense Minister. The Mongolian lady got greedy,
and tried to blackmail her boyfriend for half a million dollars. If he didn't
pay, she would go public with details of $300 million in payoffs by Russian,
French and Malaysian arms suppliers. The blackmail attempt backfired, and the Mongolian
woman was shot dead, and her body blown to bits with explosives. The use of
explosives only the military had access to led to an investigation which led to
this trial.
What's not surprising is that
there is corruption in the procurement of military equipment. This is a
tradition that goes back thousands of years (and that's just the written
record). But in many parts of the world, like Southeast Asia, it amounts to
10-20 percent of the cost of the weapons, equipment or supplies. This is
particularly the case if the weapons are brought from abroad. If there are
competing suppliers, everyone knows that, whoever offers the highest bribe,
gets the sale.
The governments involved do
not like this sort of thing to be made public. For then they have to at least
go through the motions of eliminating the corrupt practices. All this means is
that some bribes may be lost (not paid) or delayed. But its annoying if your
accustomed to plundering in peace.
