Jho Low the winner in deals with DoJ to give up stolen assets, says report

The Equanimity yacht and Bombardier jet can no longer fetch the prices that Jho Low had paid to acquire them.

PETALING JAYA: Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho has everything to gain in recent deals he made with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), where he agreed to surrender billions of dollars worth of assets which he was accused of buying using money stolen from 1MDB, according to Sarawak Report.

The portal, which had warned in September that Low was cutting a deal with US authorities who had named him as among key players in the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB, said he had nothing to lose by surrendering depreciating assets such as a property in New York, a private jet in Singapore and a luxury yacht in Malaysia.

“It seems that at the moment so many of his assets have turned into liabilities, Jho Low has conveniently started handing them over,” Sarawak Report said.

It comes after Low, better known as Jho Low, agreed to drop his claims to the Park Lane Hotel in New York, allowing the property to be sold to Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Investment Co and other investors.

Low Taek Jho is reportedly cutting deals with US authorities to give up assets he is accused of buying using stolen 1MDB money. (Reuters pic)

The luxury hotel is among the assets the US prosecutors allege that Jho Low and his accomplices acquired with money syphoned from 1MDB.

Jho Low bought the hotel in 2013 in a joint venture with New York real estate developer Witkoff Group for about US$654 million, to acquire 85% of the property. Mubadala paid him US$135 million in late 2013 for a stake in the hotel.

Sarawak Report said the hotel’s market value had taken a plunge in recent years.

“Prices have dipped and the hotel is in need of refurbishment,” it said.

“By officially surrendering his share the wanted fugitive has enabled the Department of Justice to realise what money is in the asset, but has probably saved himself costs in maintaining it and whatever loans are outstanding.”

The hotel is among assets Jho Low has surrendered in recent months, including his stake in EMI Music Publishing and his Bombardier private jet now grounded in Singapore.

Last month, a court in Malaysia allowed the government to auction the Equanimity, the US$250 million superyacht which was seized by Indonesia at the request of the US early this year.

Sarawak Report said both the jet and the yacht were no longer worth the price Jho Low had paid for.

“The plane will not reach at auction what he paid for it and nor will his fancy yacht.

“Equanimity, bought for a staggering quarter of a billion dollars in 2014, has suffered from resting idle in dock and is no longer spanking new,” it said.

It further said Jho Low’s lawyers and PR consultants had made millions for their role in cutting the deals, but there is little chance that any portion from the sales of assets could be returned to Malaysia.

“This stolen 1MDB money apparently will not be reclaimable from these law firms and PR outfits under the law as it now stands, since unlike banks, such outfits are not yet required to check if their clients are paying them with criminal cash,” it said. - FMT