Najib, Jho Low sidestepping real questions on 1MDB

Tony Pua says both also ignored the USD700 million transfer 1MDB authorised to Good Star Ltd, a company controlled by Jho Low and his associates.

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has been left wondering why neither Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak nor Jho Low have addressed directly the fact that the Sarawak Report exposed email correspondences between PetroSaudi International executives, the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) management, and Jho Low and his associates.

“They (emails) clearly demonstrated Jho Low’s direct and masterful involvement in the entire joint venture exercise,” said Pua who is also DAP National Publicity Secretary. “Jho Low was even offered the direct opportunity to describe these specific emails as fabrications but he didn’t.”

“Both of them also avoided the fact that 1MDB had authorised a USD700 million transfer to Good Star Limited, a company controlled by Jho Low and his associates which could certainly be described as dealings with 1MDB.”

Najib, warned Pua, cannot continue to avoid telling the whole truth about Jho Low’s involvement and potential embezzlement of billions of ringgit from 1MDB coffers. “His continued sidestepping of the issue will only raise greater speculation and suspicion that the Prime Minister himself was covering up for Jho Low.”

Worse, by failing to come clean, Pua added, Najib may be implicated, inadvertently or otherwise, in the same multi-billion ringgit crimes Malaysians are now suspecting Jho Low of having expertly executed. “After all, there are now email evidence of Jho Low implicating the connivance of the Finance Minister in the various multi-billion ringgit transfers of funds from 1MDB to PetroSaudi.”

Was it just a mere coincidence that the response given by Najib were practically identical to the ones provided by Jho Low on the exact same day?

Why are Najib and Jho Low giving the same standard reply which doesn’t answer the question of the latter’s role in 1MDB?

“The likelihood of coincidence may have been higher had Najib and Jho Low both answered the question specifically, instead of sidestepping actual questions,” continued Pua. “Wangsa Maju MP Dr Tan Kee Kwong didn’t ask if 1MDB paid Jho Low a salary or a fee.”

“Tan asked if there were any business transactions or dealings between 1MDB and Jho Low.”

Similarly, he pointed out, despite being repeatedly asked to clarify his “involvement and connection with 1MDB”, Jho Low continued sidestepping the issue by claiming that his “views are always sought by numerous parties”.

Pua was commenting on Najib giving a short and curt answer when Tan asked on March 12, 2015 whether there were any business transactions or dealings between 1MDB and Jho Low.

Responses from the Finance Minister and Jho Low so strikingly similar

Pua noted that Najib said: “Mr Low Taek Jho never worked in 1MDB and all 1MDB decisions and transactions are made by the management and the Board of Directors of 1MDB”.

Why are the responses from the Finance Minister and Jho Low so strikingly similar in not directly answering the questions posed?

During Jho Low’s press interview with South China Morning Post on the same day, he protested his innocence over his involvement with the scandal-tainted 1MDB by pleading that “business decisions by 1MDB are ultimately decided and approved in accordance with their corporate governance framework, which is the management, board and shareholder. So why politicise and try to blame it all on me when I have no decision-making authority?”

Jho Low, said Pua, then repeated almost the exact same thing via a phone interview with CNBC the same day. “I am not hired by 1MDB and I am not paid any fees. Business decisions…. are ultimately decided by the management, board and shareholders,” said Jho Low.