Tharmendran’s lawyer M. Manogaran said that an application was filed at the Shah Alam High Court on July 16 for the charges against the former airforce sergeant in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court to be quashed.
“This charge is an abuse of the process of the court and is frivolous. He (Tharmendran) is only a sergeant,” Manogaran told reporters today.
“Why target him alone? What about the others involved?” asked Manogaran, who is also the Teluk Intan MP.
Manogaran and Tharmendran’s other lawyer N. Surendran are both convinced their client is a scapegoat in a conspiracy involving high-ranking officials.
Manogaran had claimed that the jet engine theft was only the “tip of the iceberg” for there were other spare parts stolen.
Tharmendran also applied for a protection order from the Sessions Court here today against Royal Malaysian Airforce (RMAF) officers he claims are intending to abduct him.
The 42-year-old ex-airman was charged in January this year with abetting the theft of two RMAF F5-E jet engines.
The RMAF discovered that the jet engines and their maintenance records were missing on May 22, 2008 and a police report was lodged on August 4 the same year.
The engines, purchased in 1972 at a cost of RM303,570 and not RM50 million as initially reported when the story broke, are now reportedly in Uruguay.
The theft was a major embarrassment to the government, followed by reports later that the country’s first submarine — the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman — could not dive in tropical waters.
The Perdana Menteri-class submarine is one of two bought under a multi-billion ringgit deal.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had vowed that there would be no cover-up over the theft of the engines, which took place when he was defence minister, while current Defence Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had said it was an inside job.
Tharmendran and company director K. Rajandran Prasad were jointly charged in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court on January 6 in connection with the theft of the missing F5-E jet engines.
Tharmendran is accused of stealing the engines in December 2007 at the Subang RMAF air base.
He was also charged with conspiring in the theft with senior airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop at the material processing shed at the Sungai Besi RMAF base.
He was arrested on September 1 last year, and if convicted faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine.
Rajandran is accused of disposing of the engines on April 30, 2008.
