The cleverest man in the 1MDB scandal was none other than Jho Low (full name: Low Taek Jho). The world’s biggest heist – between 2009 and 2014 – saw at least US$4.5 billion stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad). The thievery was quite amusing because it involved three individuals from three major ethnic groups – Malay, Chinese and Indian.
Here’s the story. Former Prime Minister Najib Razak, a Malay, was too lazy to think of a great plan to steal and plunder the country’s coffer. So he outsourced the master plan to a Chinese, Jho Low. Make no mistake. Najib wasn’t dumb. He claims to have had graduated from the British University of Nottingham in economics, although many still believe he didn’t graduate at all.
But Mr. Najib was no match for Mr. Low, a graduate of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. The Penang-born Jho Low was the mastermind or the architect of the 1MDB. The fact that Najib was also serving as the country’s finance minister makes the plan even easier to execute. Najib is in trouble today because he signed most of the documents and contracts.
Still, they needed a third guy to do all the dirty jobs, but would be rewarded the least. Arul Kanda Kandasamy, an Indian, was appointed as the president and CEO of 1MDB in 2015 when the scandal was blown off beyond repair. He was quite smart too, having obtained an LLB from the London School of Economics and an LLM in corporate and commercial law from University College London.
Mr. Arul was employed to be the public face of the country’s longest running financial scandal. During the 14th general election campaign in 2018, he toured the country on a national road show, covering over 30 locations. His primary mission was to twist and spin Najib administration’s 1MDB money-laundering scandal. Any questions he couldn’t answer, he called it “fake news”.
Both Jho Low and Najib Razak had pocketed billions of dollars from the 1MDB, a scandal which the Swiss Attorney General’s office said was nothing but a scam. A brainchild of Najib, the 1MDB scandal had racked up debts of RM50 billion. On 28 June 2018, two days before the end of his employment contract, Kanda was sacked. His annual salary package was revealed to be only RM5 million.
Today, Najib faces 42 charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), money laundering and abuse of power. Arul has been jointly charged with his former boss Najib over tampering of the final audit report of 1MDB. Jho Low, however, is indulging himself to a luxury lifestyle in overseas, despite being a wanted man in his own country.
Fugitive Jho Low has expressed his extreme pleasure today after the U.S. Justice Department struck a deal with him, where he surrenders US$1 billion of money looted from 1MDB. This would be the biggest recovery from an American anti-corruption crackdown. The largest civil forfeiture settlements in U.S. history will resolve civil charges against Jho Low.
Still, the settlement doesn’t include an admission of guilt or wrongdoing, but doesn’t release Low from other criminal charges. Even after Jho Low gives up his US$1 billion in assets, money which did not belong to him in the first place but was stolen together with his partner-in-crime Najib, the fugitive obviously has in his possession truckloads of dirty money.
The U.S.-DOJ investigation results show that over US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund, with some of the money used to buy the private jet, a super yacht, Picasso paintings, jewellery and real estate. In Dec 2017, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the multi-billion dollar corruption scandal as the worst form of kleptocracy.
But negotiating with the U.S. authorities to settlements was not the only clever tricks Jho Low had performed to get rid of civil cases against him. His most admired tricks are avoiding extradition back to home to face criminal charges. He was believed to be hiding in China initially, until the latest report that he is currently residing in the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates).
The partner-in-crime of Najib is also reportedly seeking asylum in another country. The Malaysian Insight said that Jho Low is believed to have been “jetting” between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East, as well as Europe, since June. And he was able to travel freely because apparently he has “close relations with members of the royal families” in the Middle East.
Essentially, that means Jho Low is only a fugitive as far as his own country, Malaysia (and a handful of countries) is concerned. To the Arab world and Europe, Mr. Low is as innocent as a lamb. Sources also said he was given asylum in August under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and European Convention on Human Rights.
That’s an awesome trick. Jho Low and families can now claim international protection, the same way refugees seek protection from war or violence. Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted in 1948, guarantees the right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), on the other hand, is an international human rights treaty between the 47 states that are members of the Council of Europe. Heck, there is even the European Court of Human Rights provides a forum for people who believe their rights have been denied, allowing them to have their cases heard.
That means Jho Low and families could travel without fear to 47 member states, 28 of which are members of the European Union – including Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Finland and Spain. In short, while Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor could spend years in prison, the despicable Jho Low is untouchable.
Although Low’s lawyers have confirmed the asylum status but did not divulge further details, the billionaire fugitive and his family members could have claimed that they are unable or unwilling to return to their own country – Malaysia – due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
It appears that Jho Low and his lawyers might have taken a page out of Mahathir Mohamad’s political playbook when the Malaysian prime minister refused to deport Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik under the excuse that the controversial preacher (who had inspired terrorists) would not get a fair trial in his own home country of India.
The preacher was granted permanent resident by former Najib government. But when the new government of Mahathir took over, he said Zakir would not be deported “as long as he is not creating any problems”. Mahathir has chosen to protect and harbour Zakir, the preacher wanted by the Indian government for spreading hate speech, laundering money, and funding terrorism.
Despite receiving an application from New Delhi to extradite Zakir Naik, an Indian national, Mahathir decided to ignore the request and keeps harbouring Zakir. On June 10, the defiant premier made it known that he won’t send Mr. Zakir back to India even if officially requested. When asked by journalists, Mahathir said – “Zakir in general feels that he is not going to get a fair trial (in India).”
Later, the defiant Zakir ventured into “racial politics”, claiming the Malaysian Chinese aren’t born in the country so they, as the “old guests”, must go back to China first before he (the “new guest”) can be asked to leave. The dangerous hate preacher had also falsely claimed that Malaysian Hindus were more loyal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi than Prime Minister Mahathir.
It’s unknown which country’s passport Jho Low uses to travel. But the UAE is a popular safe haven for rich refugees, including billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand who has been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai for more than a decade. Like Thaksin, Low could be waiting for Malaysia political winds to change before making his return.
And like Thaksin, Jho Low has billions of dollars to buy influence and new passports. Despite repeated protests from the Thai government, which has urged the United Arab Emirates to arrest or expel him, Mr. Thaksin has been living in his villa (which real estate websites suggest is worth several million dollars) on the Corniche Street in the gated Emirates Hills development.
Thaksin said he remains a billionaire despite a move by the Thai courts to freeze US$1.4 billion of his assets in 2010. Chances are Jho Low’s lifestyle is no different from that of Thanksin in Dubai. But can’t Mahathir, supposedly a very much respected and influential Muslim leader, call his counterparts in UAE, Saudi, or other Arab nations to expel Jho Low in the name of Muslim brotherhood?
Forget Muslim brotherhood. Even if Dubai wishes to, which they don’t, they can’t extradite Jho Low because the U.A.E. and Malaysia do not have an extradition treaty. That explains why crooked Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, facing a record 87 criminal charges, had insisted on getting back his passport to travel to Saudi Arabia this year to perform “Umrah”, after which he could fly to UAE to seek asylum or protection.
The simple fact that the Arab nations prefer to protect Jho Low, a billionaire kafir (infidel), than to hand him over to fellow Muslim country Malaysia speaks volumes that the Arabs treasure money more than religion rhetoric. Only Mahathir saw great value in a hate preacher like Zakir Naik. The Middle East prefers billionaires like Thaksin and Jho Low.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- SRC Trial – Here’re 10 Points Any First Year Law Student Can Use To Nail Najib & Send The Crook To Jail
- Careful What You Wish For – Zakir Naik Attacks China & Instigates Muslim World To Fight The Asia Superpower
- No Rogue Bankers, Only A Rogue PM – How Jho Low Kept Banking Money So That Najib Can Keep Spending Cash
- Zahid Loses Final Appeal – But His Persistence On Getting Back Passport Means He Really Wanted To Flee
- China Refuses To Return Fugitive Jho Low, So Mahathir Refused To Return Uighur Muslims
- Singapore Will Be Seen As Harbouring Crooks If Jho Low’s $35 Million Bombardier Jet Is Not Returned
- Najib’s Dirty Deal With Trump Backfires – Confiscation Of Jho Low’s $250 Million Yacht Is Just The Beginning
- FBI & DOJ Jurisdiction Starts From Jho Low & Riza Aziz’s Money Trail To Najib
November 1st, 2019 by financetwitter
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Sorry but, coincidentally, all these happened in the Muslim countries. (Malaysia is a secular country, but alas, some politicians would insist that it is a Muslim country)
Aren’t these countries supposed to demonstrate the Islamic value, to improve the negative perception that the world has on them?