After nearly two decades, Taiwan's 1991 purchase of six French Lafayette-class stealth frigates has finally come back to haunt pretty much everyone involved in the deal.

Both countries, plus the French defence contractor Thales and DCN, the government-owned naval manufacturer that built the frigates have been snared in the mess. A French court ruled last week that Thales and the French government must pay Taiwan as much as US$861 million (RM3 billion) for bribery charges and repayments for non-performance.

But according to widely published facts investigated by separate teams of French magistrates and lawyers, pulled together into a single narrative, the story appears to go well beyond Thales, Taiwan and France to reach deep into the governments of India, Pakistan, Malaysia and others.