The international assets of tycoon Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Lo, should be frozen, and the 32-year-old arrested to assist in investigations into the troubled government investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Freeze all of Jho Low’s international assets and investigate him over 1MDB ‘heist of the century’, said Pua.
DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua in a statement said the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar should officially request his international counterparts to freeze all of Jho Low’s assets, which have allegedly been acquired from his lucrative ‘deals’ with 1MDB and Petrosaudi International Limited.
Jho Low, who is a self-proclaimed playboy billionaire philanthropist, has been a name linked to not only multi-billion ringgit deals with the Finance Ministry’s investment fund, but also to (allegedly) million-billion ringgit ‘transactions’ involving his company, Good Star Limited.
The latest expose from whistleblower site Sarawak Report revealed how out of US$1.83 billion (RM6.59 billion) “invested” by 1MDB with and to Petrosaudi International Limited, Jho Low pocketed US$1.19 billion (RM4.3 billion) directly via Good Star Limited, while US$260 million was used indirectly to further his own interest to acquire UBG Bhd in Malaysia.
“The Singapore Business Times disclosed for the first time yesterday that Jho Low has acquired one of the most expensive penthouses in Singapore worth S$43 million (RM116 million), on top of another property worth S$11 million (RM29 million). These properties were purchased in 2013.
“The New York Times also disclosed in 2010 that Jho Low paid US$33.5 million for a Time-Warner Condominium in New York. He had also purchased another bungalow in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles for US$39 million. Jho Low also owns multi-million dollar high-rise lairs in Hong Kong,” Pua said.
He added that Jho Low also acquired expensive properties which he subsequently “handed over” to Riza Aziz, the son of Rosmah Mansor.
Jho Low, seen with Paris Hilton. (Pic from Says.com)
“These included another condominium in New York costing US$33.5 million and another bungalow in Beverly Hills costing US$17.5 million. According to The New York Times, all these assets were acquired with cash,” Pua said.
“Besides properties, Jho Low splurged on “art” as well, paying a whopping US$48.8 million for an abstract piece entitled “Dustheads” by Jean-Michel Basquiat,” he added.
Pua said Malaysians must be completely bewildered as to why the IGP appears rooted to the spot when investigating and taking action against the perpetrators of the “heist of the century”.
“The evidence trails have already been carefully laid out for the police force, and yet, after months since the exposés, no concrete steps have been taken to try to put these robbers behind bars. The police for example, hasn’t even questioned Jho Low. This is despite the IGP being ruthlessly efficient when investigating other inanities like “royal my foot”,” he said.
“As such, we call upon the IGP to not only to arrest Jho Low to assist with investigations, he should start the process to seek his international counterparts to freeze all Jho Low’s assets and banking accounts to ensure that no more of the money which were fraudulently embezzled from 1MDB gets frittered away,” Pua said.
The debt-ridden 1MDB has come under intense scrutiny over the past few months as evidence surface of dubious deals, lucrative transactions, and ‘missing’ monies which have been stashed in offshore accounts. Among the latest revelations include falsified documents to declare that funds have been recovered from offshore accounts, as well as Jho Low’s own alleged involvement in siphoning millions off of 1MDB.
The Sarawak Report also just revealed that independent investigators into 1MDB had concluded that 1MDB lied to Bank Negara and may be complicit in cheating the central bank about 1MDB’s relationship with Good Star Limited.
– The Rocket
