Olivier Metzner, one of France’s most prominent lawyers and the lead lawyer for the French defense contractor DCN in a case involving massive bribery in Malaysia was found floating near his private island off the Brittany coast Monday, an apparent suicide.
Two submarines sold by a DCN subsidiary to the government of Malaysia are the subject of an investigation in a French court in connection with at least US$150 million in bribes allegedly paid to Malaysian politicians with the knowledge of then-French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Two bodyguards for Najib, then Malaysia’s defense minister, were convicted of killing Altantuya in 2006 and blowing her body up with C4 explosives, possibly to obliterate DNA from an unknown figure in Malaysia who got her pregnant.
Metzner, 63, was described in news reports in Paris as France’s most famous lawyer. His body was discovered floating off his own private island in the Gulf of Morbihan, a natural harbor on the Brittany coast. Local police said a suicide note had been found in Metzner’s home. There is no reason to suspect Metzner’s death was connected to the Malaysia case, lawyers said.
Metzner in 2010 defended former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who told AFP he was astounded by the sudden death and that it was “incompatible with [Metzner's] personality.” Many others also cast doubt that Metzner would take his own life, AFP reported.
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