IN today’s technology-savvy world where remnants of information technology – from artificial intelligence (AI) to big data to surveillance cameras, facial recognition and biometrics – rule our daily lives, it irks the mind to imagine how fugitive financier Jho Lho @ Low Taek Jho is able to give international law enforcers a slip for six years and counting.
With two Interpol Red Notices against him issued by Singapore in 2016 and Malaysia in June 2018 as well as an active US arrest warrant, the 41 year-old Penangite who is sought for his alleged role in the theft of more than US$4.5 bil vis-à-vis the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal has been as elusive as the futile search for the ill-fated Beijing-bound flight MH370 which went missing from radar on March 8, 2014.
Alongside the 239 passengers on board, aviation experts till today have searched in vain for the final resting place of Flight MH370, thus making its disappearance as one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in aviation history.
As with the MH370 one wonders how the on-the-run Jho Low who masterminded the massive 1MDB fraud is able to somehow instruct the termination of its solicitors Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners who has been representing him and his father Tan Sri Low Hock Peng in the ongoing 1MDB suit against them.
This comes about yesterday (April 14) after the legal firm filed an application to the Kuala Lumpur High Court to discharge itself from representing both Jho Low and his father.
Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners said its appointment has been terminated by Kobre & Kim LLP – a New York-headquartered global law firm focused exclusively on disputes and investigations – which acted as the instructing solicitors on the matter.
This is perhaps an ideal opening for the Malaysian enforcement authorities to engage their international counterparts to track down a potential Jho Low proxy who might have acted as a conduit or middleman to convey the original instruction to terminate Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners in the first place.
Meanwhile, the hearing of the application by Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners which was submitted on April 8 has been fixed for May 12 following case management on the matter yesterday (April 14), according to theedgemarkets.com.
1MDB and four of its subsidiaries are suing Jho Low, his father, his mother Puan Sri Goh Gaik Ewe as well as his sister May Lin and brother Taek Szen along with his associate Eric Tan Kim Loong for a total of US$3.78 bil.
It was previously reported on Jan 5 that Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners will be representing Low, his father and his mother, Goh. It is now understood that the law firm is not discharging itself from representing Goh, according to theedgemarkets.com.
The subsidiaries in this suit are 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd and Global Diversified Investment Co Ltd (formerly 1MDB Global Investments Ltd).
Given his elusiveness, perhaps Jho Low who has been able to evade a global manhunt that even involves the US authorities, would be able to lend a helping hand to locate the MH370. – April 15, 2022
