The police should give an update on their search for the 1MDB fugitive fraudster extraordinaire Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, following the latest claims by the authors of Billion Dollar Whale and award-winning Wall Street Journal journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope that Jho Low is in China. Both of them made a surprising revelation that the information came from “a Malaysian government source”.
Previously, former attorney-general (AG) Apandi Ali had owned up to arranging meetings between the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and legal representatives of Jho Low in May this year. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri had sanctioned the meeting, where Jho Low had allegedly offered to pay the Malaysian government RM1.5 billion as part of a settlement to drop criminal charges against him.
The Prime Minister must not forget that both former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Jho Low were primarily responsible for the largest financial scandal in history. Since Najib is serving 12 years in prison, Jho Low must also go to prison for his role in helping Najib rob the nation in the RM52 billion 1MDB scandal.
What is unusual is that UMNO leaders do not appear to be interested in nabbing Jho Low. During the UMNO Special Briefing last Saturday on Najib being sent to jail after losing his final appeal to the Federal Court, no mention was made by UMNO President Ahamad Zahid Hamidi on asking the government to redouble efforts to capture Jho Low.
Even though Jho Low’s offer of RM1.5 billion was finally rejected, the Prime Minister was wrong to allow the meeting to take place at all. Agreeing to meet gave the shameful impression that Malaysia was willing to negotiate with a wanted criminal on the run. There should be no meeting nor discussion but to go all out to hunt down Jho Low.
So far there is no progress from the police’s efforts to hunt down Jho Low. The last update was on 13 Dec 2021 by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, who said that Interpol has already issued Red Notices for fugitive businessmen Low Taek Jho on 11 June 2018 that are only accessible for viewing by enforcement agencies.
Since the police are not making much progress, perhaps they can ask both Tom Wright and Bradley Hope for help to provide information on Jho Low?