Federal commercial criminal investigation department director Amar Singh Ishar Singh has rubbished the claim that former PetroSaudi International executive Xavier Justo was made to declare that Najib Abdul Razak "was the best prime minister".
Responding to a Malay Mail report, the top cop said he had led a police team to record Justo’s statement back in 2015, but added that such a question would have been "irrelevant".
“Clearly, the question of who being the best prime minister is not relevant to the case being investigated.
“Thus, we would definitely not ask such an irreverent question,” he was quoted saying by the Malay Mail yesterday.
Amar stated that police were recording Justo's statement in relation to 1MDB-related emails purportedly leaked by Justo which were published by Sarawak Report.
At the time, Justo was incarcerated at a Bangkok prison for his role in attempting to blackmail and extort his former employer, PetroSaudi, a Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas company, with data he had taken from them.
Thai police alleged that Justo had leaked documents from PetroSaudi, relating to its joint venture with 1MDB, that were published by Malaysian and international media, which formed the basis of money-laundering investigations into the fund.
He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment but was released after 18 months in Dec 2016 after being granted royal amnesty by Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The Malay Mail had yesterday quoted Justo claiming that he was forced to admit that Najib was “the best prime minister”, as part of a forced confession to Malaysian police officers, including Amar.
He reportedly said that he was under the impression the admission was part of several instructions imposed as a condition for his release.
The Swiss national reportedly told a conference on financial crime in Kuala Lumpur that: “The Malaysian delegation was of three Malaysian policemen and they told me to say I was a bad man, I liked money and (PetroSaudi chief executive officer) Tarek (Obaid) and PetroSaudi were nice.
“And also I had to say Najib was the best PM ever ... of course, I don’t know if he was.
“They (Malaysian police) had 55 questions, all I had to do was follow what I was told and that’s it."
Justo also alleged at the conference that he believed Malaysian authorities had a hand in his continued detention in Thailand, even after he was allegedly told he was to have been deported back to Switzerland.
“But three days after the Malaysian police came, I found out that they denied my deportation," he reportedly said.
Thai Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya had in 2016 denied that the country bowed to international pressure in denying Justo's request to serve the remainder of his jail term in Switzerland, saying that the decision was made "in accordance with Thai law". -Mkini
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