As a global probe into 1MDB revives, investigators from Malaysia and Singapore met to renew their pursuit of Low Taek Jho. The move illustrates how the net around the Malaysian financier-businessman is tightening.
Until recently, Malaysia has dithered in cooperating with investigators from the U.S., Singapore, and Switzerland in probing an alleged billion-dollar graft at its sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. That all changed last month with a surprise election upset by Mahathir Mohamad, who has pledged to resuscitate the largely dormant probe in Malaysia.
On Thursday, investigators from Singapore, the banking center at the heart of the scandal, sat down with Malaysian counterparts, the city-state's prosecutor said in a statement on Friday.
Low Pinpointed
«It was a productive meeting, with a fruitful exchange of information. Singapore has been providing Malaysia information on 1MDB-related fund flows, since March 2015, and this was acknowledged by Malaysia. Both sides agreed to continue this cooperation,» according to the statement.
PM Mahathir also doubled up on recent comments, saying Malaysia wants to arrest Low, «Reuters» reported on Friday. In fact, the government knows where the baby-faced financier is holed up outside of Malaysia, Mohamad said, but doesn't have extradition treaties with the country in question. The old-new PM didn't disclose the country.
The AWOL Low has been reportedly been spotted in Thailand, Cambodia, China and Hong Kong since the 1MBD probe blew open in 2016. U.S. prosecutors put the kibosh in Low's ocean cruising when they seized his $260 million superyacht earlier this year.
Bankers Banned
The move illustrates renewed impetus for the U.S.-led probe, but it also highlights that the net around Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, is tightening. Singapore noted that a 2016 Interpol arrest warrant, a so-called red notice, for Low and another man, Tan Kim Loong, still holds.
«All members of Interpol, including Malaysia, would have been aware of the Red Notices when they were published,» Singapore's prosecutor said, coyly alluding to Malaysia's lack of cooperation until now.
Singapore has been among the most severe in dealing with banks and bankers involved in the 1MDB debacle. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has banned eight bankers involved in the Malaysian graft scandal including Tim Leissner, formerly Goldman Sachs' man in southeast Asia, as well as Swiss banker Jens Sturzenegger, the branch manager of Falcon Private Bank when it was shut down over 1MDB two years ago.
