Malcolm Turnbull called President Emmanuel Macron to talk about the $90 billion cancelled Submarine deal. Why? What’s in it for Turnbull?

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has unloaded with both barrels on Prime Minister Scott Morrison regarding the cancelled $90 billion submarine contract accusing Morrison of being deceitful, sneaky and damaging Australia’s reputation on the global stage as stated by Turnbull in the below video. It raises the question of why does Malcolm Turnbull care anymore since he is no longer Prime Minister? And why did Turnbull talk directly to French President Emmanuel Macron in the last few days to discuss the cancelled $90 billion submarine contract?

This article is a follow-up to last week’s article titled “France had Scott Morrison’s mate David Gazard on their payroll for the $90 billion Submarine scam. Has Morrison pulled off one of the biggest stings ever?” (Click here to read the article)

The submarine contract was announced in 2016 by Malcolm Turnbull who was then Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron and was valued at $50 billion at the time. But as soon as it was announced it was obvious there were some very serious questions that needed to be answered about the deal and on the 4th of May 2016 I published an article titled “Australian Senate corruption inquiry investigating $50 Billion Submarine contract winner”. (Click here to read the article)

But by 2019 the contract had still not been finalised and the French state-owned shipbuilder Naval Group employed ECG Advisory Solutions which was owned by Scott Morrison’s good mates David Gazard and former federal treasurer Peter Costello to help close the deal. I quoted from 2019 in the previous article:

In a statement, Naval Group confirmed the arrangement but did not disclose how much Mr Gazard’s company was being paid for its lobbying services.

Mr Morrison discussed progress on the SPA with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit in late November, and told reporters they had agreed to elevate it “back up to leader-level to ensure it’s finalised in the near term”. (Click here to read the article)

I think it is important to note that Scott Morrison negotiated directly with French President Emmanuel Macron on the submarine deal and given recent statements by Malcolm Turnbull it seems like when Turnbull was Prime Minister he also negotiated directly with President Macron.

It’s worth noting that the former South African President Jacob Zuma is currently facing trial for allegedly taking a bribe for a $2 billion defence contract with the French:

Zuma has pleaded not guilty to corruption, money laundering and racketeering related to the acquisition of military equipment. French arms group Thales has also denied wrongdoing.

Zuma is accused of accepting a 500,000 rand ($34,000) annual bribe from Thales from 1999 in exchange for protecting the company from investigation. (Click here to read more)

Prosecutors allege between 1995 and 2001 that Zuma and Thales were involved in an organized criminal enterprise. They also accuse Zuma of taking bribes from a former financial adviser as far back as 1995 in exchange for using his political power to advance the adviser’s business interests. That corrupt relationship lasted for 10 years, prosecutors said.

Among the charges, Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French company Thales to ensure that South Africa signed a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the company in 1999. Zuma was deputy president of South Africa from 1999 until 2005 when he was fired from that role amid allegations of corruption.

Thales, also accused in the trial, pleaded not guilty to racketeering and money laundering. (Click here to read more)

The French are also accused of bribing officials linked to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mr Razak was last year “sentenced to 12 years in jail over one of many cases over the misappropriation of funds from now-defunct state fund 1MDB. He has denied wrongdoing and has appealed the verdict.” (Click here to read more)

DCNS (now known as Naval Group and majority owned, 62.49%, by the French government. Thales owns 35%) is alleged to have bribed officials linked to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and the corruption also involves allegations of murder. This is on top of other previous allegations of bribery against DCNS. (Click here to read more)

The point about former South African President Jacob Zuma and former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is that the French owned defence companies have a long history of allegations of bribing other countries, including their leaders, to win defence contracts. That fact makes the direct involvement of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his mates and the continued involvement of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Australia’s deal with the French extremely worrying to say the least.

In the video below Mr Turnbull, in a speech given at the National Press Club in Canberra last Wednesday (29-9-21), revealed he had spoken to President Macron, who is refusing to take Scott Morrison’s calls, after Morrison’s decision to cancel the $90 billion submarine contract. Turnbull also aggressively attacks Scott Morrison in the below video calling him deceitful and sneaky etc and embarrassing Australia globally which I agree with.

While I agree with Turnbull’s evaluation of Morrison’s dodgy conduct, I have to wonder what is Turnbull’s motivation to call President Macron to discuss the cancelled submarine deal when Turnbull is no longer Prime Minister? And why would President Macron take Turnbull’s call?

As stated above, the South African President was allegedly bribed over a $2 billion deal so how much would the French have been prepared to bribe people over a $90 billion deal?

There are many unanswered questions and a lot of noses in the trough of the cancelled $90 billion submarine deal with some reports saying $4 billion had already been spent on the deal which is a lot of money to line pockets. While Morrison has cancelled the deal it is far from over and hopefully some of the truth of what really happened will eventually become public.