KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): A federal lawmaker said fugitive Penang businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, should return to defend himself and not seek a settlement for the purported crimes he is alleged to have committed in Malaysia and the US in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament (MP) Hassan Abdul Karim questioned Jho Low's perception of the Attorney General Chambers (AGC) and the Malaysian judiciary — whether it’s proper that a fugitive like him could dictate matters, ask to negotiate, and bargain even, for charges against him to be dropped for a price.

Hassan said there should not be any negotiations with Jho Low, a known fugitive who had been on the run and placed under Interpol’s red notice over the years, with the Malaysian government.

He quizzed whether the Malaysian justice system could be bought with the offer of RM1.5 billion by Jho Low. “Is he trying to bribe the Malaysian government,” he posed further.

“Congratulations to the Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun, its officers and the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for making a stand to reject the offer.

“If Jho Low has any dignity and thinks he is innocent, then he should return to Malaysia, his own country, to face the charges in the court of law. Not run and hide to protect himself in another country,” Hassan said in a statement.

The Pasir Gudang MP also said Jho Low’s appointment of US law firm Kobre and Kim — which in turn appointed former attorney general Mohamed Apandi Ali as a middleman to conduct negotiations with the Malaysian government — could be seen as an admission of guilt for the crime of cheating 1MDB and the Malaysian government.

He added that if Jho Low is indeed innocent, then why he is offering RM1.5 billion to the Malaysian government in return for all charges against him to be dropped?

“What is more sad is that former AG Apandi Ali is willing to be a middleman between Jho Low and the Malaysian government. Does Apandi realise that Jho Low is a criminal in the 1MDB scandal, resulting in the Malaysian government losing more than RM50 billion.

“It is puzzling to think why Idrus was even prepared to hold several meetings with Jho Low's representatives, which resulted in several negotiations. After several meetings, finally it (negotiations) stopped and Jho Low's offer was rejected,” he added,

Hassan, also a lawyer, wondered why the offer by Jho Low was not outrightly rejected to begin with.

“Isn't the job of an Attorney General to ensure Jho Low is brought back to Malaysia for him to be tried and be a vital witness in the trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak?” he asked.

On Saturday (July 16), former AG Apandi Ali in a statement, admitted he helped arrange meetings between Kobre & Kim with Idrus and several officers from the AGC and the MACC.

This is after The Edge on Friday reported that Jho Low, who is accused of masterminding the siphoning out of billions of dollars from 1MDB, had offered RM1.5 billion to the Malaysian government to settle the charges against him, according to sources who were aware of these meetings.

Jho Low was slapped with eight charges of being in absentia in 2018 under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act, 2001 (Act 613). Three of the charges were for receiving 1MDB funds, while five were for transferring funds related to 1MDB.

Low was later additionally charged with five more counts of money laundering involving transfers totalling US$1.03 billion into a Swiss Bank account between Sept 30, 2009, and October 25, 2011, and two other money laundering charges for receiving US$126 million in a Singapore-based bank account.

In 2020, the MACC brought another charge against Low and his associates, this time for allegedly engaging in a criminal conspiracy to enable Najib to use his position to receive a bribe totalling RM60.63 million.

In the United States, Low has been charged in New York for conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB and for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to various Malaysians and officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was also separately charged in the District of Columbia for conspiring to make and conceal foreign and conduit campaign contributions during the US presidential election in 2012.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has alleged that as much as US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014 by Low and his co-conspirators, which included officials from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

Besides this, Jho Low, his father Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng, mother Puan Sri Goh Gaik Ewe, his two siblings Taek Szen and May Lin, and business associate Eric Tan Kim Loong are also facing a US$3.78 billion civil suit from 1MDB and its subsidiaries.

In the suit, he and Hock Peng had a Mareva injunction imposed on him by the Malaysian High Court to freeze more than US$1.4 billion of their assets and for them to disclose where the assets are and their address.

Read also:
AGC says Jho Low’s offers to resolve, settle and annul charges were rejected 
Apandi confirms arranging meetings between Jho Low’s law firm and AG Idrus, but negotiations called off 
Jho Low said to have offered RM1.5 bil to Malaysian govt to settle all charges against him 
The very person who sought to bring Jho Low back to face charges is involved in settlement negotiations?