FUGITIVE financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, is believed to be in China and likely protected by those who have good relations with the country’s top brass, say Damansara MP Tony Pua and Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.
Jho Low’s allies, the duo claimed, had to do so as they were probably implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
“Nobody seems to admit that Jho Low is in the country. We have our suspicions, and many of us believe that he is actually in China.
“But that has been officially denied by China, and the Chinese government has said that if they do know his location they will be more than happy to assist in capturing him and bringing him back to Malaysia, but to date, we haven’t got any real news on his whereabouts,” Pua said in a webinar conducted by the Kuwait Association for Protecting Public Funds and the Kuwait Bar Association.
Pua referred to Sarawak Report’s latest posting alleging that Kuwait entities were working with major state-owned Chinese construction companies – the Silk Road & Belt fund and also the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – to continue to process billions of dollars of suspected 1MDB funds during the course of 2016 up until the final months of 2019.
“The latest exclusive by Sarawak Report actually gives higher credibility to the theory that he (Jho Low) is actually protected by some parties in China due to the fear of scandals which will be exposed on how much some of these Chinese parties have been complicit in the entire money laundering (operation),” said Pua.
The Wall Street Journal reported on June 9 that Jho Low had been able to slip into Kuwait despite being on Interpol’s red notice list.
Jho Low had entered Kuwait last September, said WSJ, and quoted a Malaysian investigating officer that up to six months ago, Jho Low had spent most of his time in Wuhan, China.
Pua, however, rejected the possibility that Jho Low might still be in Malaysia.
Rewcastle-Brown said that some individuals were willing to protect Jho Low in China and did not want him to disclose information in a court outside China.
“I think Tony is right. I think Jho Low is in China. I have bills in a 6-star hotel paid by a royal personage on behalf of Jho Low in Shanghai,” she said.
“Probably certain people with very important connections would rather keep him in China than have him spill the beans in a court outside China,” she added.
Jho Low and former prime minister Najib Razak had been accused of abusing millions of ringgit through 1MDB.
International investigators, including the US Department of Justice, have concluded that at least US$4.5 bil of 1MDB funds had been misappropriated. Both have denied wrongdoing. Jho Low, in particular, claimed that he was only the mediator in deals involving 1MDB.
Jho Low also claimed to have been offered asylum by a European country last year citing “political persecution.” – June 24, 2020
