During the climax of 1MDB scandal in 2015, Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo dropped a bombshell. Like any Hollywood spy-thriller films, he was approached by “someone” to change the real story. He was in jail in Thailand, allegedly trying to blackmail his former employer, PetroSaudi, which was entangled in 1MDB – a scandal involving the Malaysian government.
He was obviously a desperate man, and would do anything to get the hell out of the prison. After all, he has a wife and a nine-month-old son back in Switzerland. And he was facing up to 7 years in jail and a fine if found guilty of extortion. A former head of IT at the London office of PetroSaudi, Justo has admitted that he had stolen a staggering 90 gigabytes of company data.
In an exclusive interview with “The Straits Times” inside Bangkok Remand Prison, Mr. Justo claimed that he was promised US$2 million cash in exchange for data he stole from his former employer. But he said he was never paid what he was promised by “a group of people”. That interviewer was Nirmal Ghosh, Indochina Bureau Chief in Bangkok.
In the interview, Justo also alleged that the group of people, whom he had met in Singapore, had tampered with the data he had given them. He exposed that the people he met had talked about using the documents “to try to bring down the Malaysian government”. Conveniently, Najib Razak was the Malaysian prime minister exposed of having pocketed US$681 million siphoned from 1MDB.
That group of people included Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown. Ms. Rewcastle-Brown had rubbished Justo allegations immediately. Tong Kooi Ong, the owner of “The Edge”, however, admitted The Edge had misled Mr Justo into believing he would be paid when it was nothing but a desperate trick to get the Swiss citizen to spill the beans.
The above was 3 years ago in 2015, before Najib was ousted in the May 9, 2018 general election. Needless to say, Najib’s cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers were overjoyed with Justo’s bombshell. The revelation would mean their boss was innocent, or so they thought. Hence, they told all and sundry that the 1MDB scandal was nothing but an evil plan to overthrow Najib government.
The Straits Times carried the interview on July 24, 2015, and subsequently splashed it on its print and online editions under the headline – “I was offered $2.7 million for stolen data: Ex-PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo on the 1MDB saga”. Government-controlled newspapers and TV stations in Malaysia, of course, happily reproduced The Straits Times report.
Today, the same Xavier Andre Justo drops a new bombshell – that the interview he gave to The Straits Times three years ago was manipulated and scripted. A free man now, he exposed to “The Edge Malaysia” that he had actually been blackmailed by two individuals to say according to a script in order to help secure an early release from prison.
That “someone” who had paid a visit to Justo in 2015 was none other than PetroSaudi director Patrick Mahony, together with Paul Finnegan, a UK private detective who disguised himself as a Scotland Yard detective. Justo told Ho Kay Tat, The Edge Malaysia publisher that a list of 50 questions was handed to him by the ex-PetroSaudi guys.
Justo reveals – “They handed to me a list of 50 questions and answers that I was supposed to use for my interview just before I saw him (Nirmal Ghosh from The Straits Times). Everything I told him was prepared by them (Mahony and Finnegan) and I was also told not to bring up the name Jho Low (partner-in-crime of Najib Razak).”
Two key items from the 2015 interview – “to modify the documents” and “to bring down the Malaysian (Najib) government” – were trumpeted like a broken record by Najib propaganda machines. Now, here’s the biggest question: why The Straits Times’ Nirmal Ghosh had been allowed to interview Mr. Justo in prison at a time when even the Malaysian police could not meet him?
Khalid Abu Bakar, the 10th IGP (Inspector General of Royal Malaysia Police) between May 2012 and September 2017, had repeatedly told the world that the Malaysian police were ready and had been allowed to interview Xavier Andre Justo in Thailand. Yet, such interview had been postponed numerous times. Finally on Dec 15, 2015, Malaysian police was reportedly left for Thailand to record a statement from Justo.
Strangely, the Malaysian police had to wait more than a month for the transcript and statement of the interview, which were originally recorded in the Thai language. Why they were not in English since neither Malaysian police nor Justo spoke Thai language? More importantly, how did the despicable Mahony and Finnegan arrange Justo to be interviewed with The Straits Times?
It’s worth noting that former police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was a supporter of Najib Razak. Mr. Khalid, who is now barred from leaving Malaysia, was suspected to be the traitor in a task force formed originally to investigate the corrupt prime minister. So, what made The Straits Times so special that the media was given the privilege to interview Justo ahead of the Malaysian police?
Who were those so-called “hidden hands” that were so powerful that they could arrange for Nirmal Ghosh and The Straits Times to extract Justo “confession” to spin a fake narrative – obviously to paint Najib Razak as an innocent man? The Straits Times editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings – Warren Fernandez – has denied there was any hidden hand.
Was there a plausible possibility that the Government of Singapore was the hidden hand, trying to protect the Malaysian leader Najib son of Razak? Unlike Mahathir, who was a tough nut to crack during his 22 year rule from 1981 to 2003, his predecessor Mr. Najib had a fabulous and wonderful relationship with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Singapore doesn’t like a smart and tough leader like Mahathir Mohamad. But a weak and corrupt leader such as Najib is like a God-send Christmas gift to Singapore1. Despite scoring high marks on Corruption Perceptions Index, Singapore isn’t as clean as many think. Lee Hsien Loong administration has been accused of dragging its feet in the 1MDB scandal.
It wasn’t until the F.B.I opened investigation papers and Switzerland dropped the bombshell that a criminal investigation into 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) had revealed that about US$4 billion appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies, that Singapore was forced to act aggressively in early 2016.
The Singapore police only moved in to freeze the accounts of two Singaporean bank accounts linked to 1MDB scandal on July 15, 2015 – after the Wall Street Journal exposed (on July 2, 2015) about a money trail involving US$681 million transacted through Tanore Finance, a company in the British Virgin Islands, and Falcon Private Bank in Singapore.
Malaysian ex-PM Najib Razak, who was the Chairman of 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad), has denied any involvement in the scandal although he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar – a whopping US$681 million in his private banking accounts. Instead, Mr. Najib has claimed that the money was donations from Saudi royal family, a claim that could not be substantiated.
Interesting enough, the Singapore authorities also allowed itself to be manipulated by 1MDB President – Mr. Arul Kanda – when it was exposed that the assets held by BSI were in the form of “units” instead of “cash”. It would take Sarawak Report to expose the fraud, that the documents supplied by 1MDB relating to its Brazen Sky Limited account in Singapore were false bank statements, that Singapore started taking serious actions.
Continue To Part 2: Mahathir Is Moving For The Kill – Scraps RM110 Billion HSR Project, And There’s Nothing Singapore Can Do.
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