A foreign businessperson who made damning money-laundering allegations against Jho Low and a Kuwaiti elite has accused the MACC of dragging its feet.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Kuwaiti national Bachar Kiwan said his lawyers have been corresponding with MACC's lawyers between May 2021 and October 2021, wherein the anti-graft body showed interest in what he had to offer.
On May 21 last year, Bachar's lawyers had written to MACC chief Azam Baki, expressing a wish to assist the Malaysian authorities on matters concerning 1MDB. Since 2017, Bachar has been residing in France.
"The content and terms of such mutual cooperation is still to be agreed but would eventually lead Bachar to provide information upon certain actions having taken place in Kuwait in connection with the so-called 1MDB case," wrote Bachar's lawyers.
A reply from the MACC's lawyers suggested that both the attorney-general of Malaysia and Azam would be discussing the contents of the letter on May 24, 2021.
Bachar, who shared his correspondence with the MACC with Malaysiakini, said that eventually, no appointment would be made for him to provide his evidence.
The MACC did not respond to Malaysiakini's written queries on allegations that it did not follow through with Bachar's offer to provide evidence and how much in 1MDB assets, if any, was still in Kuwait.
At a press conference yesterday, MACC deputy chief commissioner Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya was asked to confirm communications with Bachar but did not explicitly do so.
"You have to understand, during the MCO (movement control order), during a pandemic, it's quite hard for us to go overseas.
"Through email (and other forms of communication), we will (do so)," he said, while suggesting that reporting on the matter could jeopardise investigations.
Links to Chinese state-owned firm
Baschar's account of his difficult relationship with Jho Low had been reported in detail by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Sarawak Report in 2020.
WSJ reported that Jho Low was alleged to have conspired with a Kuwaiti elite - a government official at the time - to launder money through Bachar's company Al Waseet.
The report claimed that Bachar had shown documents proving that Jho Low ultimately managed to move 1.4 billion yuan (RM790 million at the current exchange rate) through an unnamed Al Waseet subsidiary.
Ownership of the subsidiary was eventually transferred to the Kuwaiti elite.
In May and June 2016, according to the report, the Al Waseet billed 1.4 billion yuan to a Hong Kong-incorporated True Dragon Properties Ltd, purportedly a company linked to a Chinese state-owned firm, for supplying asphalt.
Al Waseet - a media company - does not deal in construction material.
The source of the fund was allegedly from a bank in China. Jho Low did not respond to the WSJ while a spokesperson for the Kuwaiti elite "categorically denies any wrongdoing" and described Bachar as a criminal.
Bachar told Malaysiakini that his encounter with Jho Low in Kuwait occurred in May 2016 - two months before the US Department of Justice announced its civil suits to seize 1MDB assets.
The relationship between Jho Low's activities in Kuwait and 1MDB is not explicitly clear. In November last year, the MACC, in announcing the amount of 1MDB assets recovered at the time, cited Kuwait as among the countries where the asset recovery process was ongoing.
Officially, according to Bachar, Jho Low's visit to Kuwait was to pitch a massive investment from China. However, Bachar would later find himself embroiled in the transfer of funds which he found suspect.
Bachar said he refused to comply and corrupt Kuwaiti officials persecuted him, his family and partners, forcing him to flee the country.
'Not in a hurry'
In 2020, a new prime minister was installed in Kuwait. It was then that Bachar learned that the transfer of funds was executed, prompting him to go public.
Bachar believes that the funds were commissions which Jho Low received from a Chinese firm engaged in big infrastructure projects in Malaysia. Moreover, Jho Low was already being pursued by US authorities at the time who were hunting for 1MDB-linked assets.
"He wanted to use my company as his wallet," claimed Bachar.
According to Bachar, Kuwaiti authorities reached out to the MACC in 2020. Subsequently, the MACC initiated the exchange of correspondences with Bachar.
"Now, almost two years, they still have not taken evidence from me.
"It seems very clear to me, some people are not in a hurry to open this file and collect documents from me about money and accounts in Kuwait," he said.
As of last November, the MACC claims to have recovered RM20.5 billion in 1MDB assets, allegedly funded by illicit proceeds from 1MDB.
1MDB was formed in 2009 by the Finance Ministry during the Najib Abdul Razak-administration. Government investigations said the company took up RM42 billion in federal-backed loans, most of it squandered.
Najib is currently facing trial for money laundering and abuse of power over RM2.6 billion in 1MDB funds having flowed through his personal bank accounts while Jho Low's whereabouts remain unknown. - Mkini
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