When a former attorney-general offers a deal for exonerating a person responsible for billions of dollars of theft from Malaysian state company 1MDB for a paltry sum and the current attorney-general actually negotiates with this person, it raises serious questions.
It is good that the current AG rejected all of Jho Low’s offers, but should he have initiated discussions in the first place? And should a former AG have even taken this to the table?
Doesn’t the former AG have at least a moral obligation to report this to the police so as to help them get some idea of where this criminal, wanted by Interpol for offences in Malaysia and elsewhere amounting to billions of ringgit, might be located and arrested?
The answers to the first two questions have to be a resounding “no” and a booming “yes” to the third.
Given the amount of trouble 1MDB has caused Malaysia financially and politically, with damage and debate still reverberating across the nation, it raises the question of why something like this will take place in the first place and as recently as May this year.
Especially when the former AG was appointed by a then prime minister who has already been convicted of criminal offences in relation to 1MDB and is facing many other charges related to money laundering, influence peddling and corruption.
Jho Low is no ordinary thief but even an ordinary thief does not get to erase his crimes by offering to return only a small portion of what he stole. Returning the money is only an issue for mitigation when it comes to punishment, not forgiveness of the crime. There is no question of negotiation at all.
A close associate of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Jho Low pulled the strings at 1MDB under Najib’s authority to steal billions. He has been implicated in the theft of at least some US$4.5 billion according to US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, making it the largest heist in history. Low also faces numerous criminal charges here and in the US amounting to billions.
The DOJ says all the RM4.5 billion stolen (the total amount could be much larger because there will be amounts not covered by the DOJ investigations) was laundered via accounts controlled by Jho Low and his associates.
The Edge reported last week that Jho Low had offered just RM1.5 billion (a paltry sum compared to US$4.5 billion confirmed stolen or nearly RM20 billion at current exchange rates) in return for settling the charges against him.
This was subsequently confirmed by Apandi who said, “I was approached by Kobre & Kim from Washington DC, seeking my assistance to arrange for a meeting with the AG of Malaysia, at the end of May 2022. I arranged a series of meetings, whereby representatives from Kobre & Kim came to Malaysia.” Apandi was present at the meetings. But why Apandi of all people?
It was a strange arrangement because Apandi was the one who in January 2016 as AG dismissed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s charges against Najib, including an RM2.6 billion “donation” from 1MDB funds and RM42 million transferred from government company SRC into Najib’s accounts, saying there was no case.
These and other moneys originated from billions in mainly US dollar bonds taken by 1MDB which were then syphoned out of the company via fraudulent transactions to entities controlled by Jho Low.
Some of the transfers were revealed in a Wall Street Journal report in July 2015, particularly the infamous “donation” from “Saudi Arabian royalty”.
The rise of Apandi
Less than a month after the Wall Street Journal report, Apandi's predecessor Abdul Gani Patail was removed on health grounds, sparking off speculation it could be related to the investigations. Apandi was appointed in his place.
Here’s a series of events that happened pre and post Apandi’s appointment taken from the December 2015 issue of KiniBiz magazine and reproduced in my book, ‘1MDB: The Scandal That Brought Down A Government’:
July 2, 2015 - Wall Street Journal reported that US$700 million was transferred into Najib’s account.
July 5, 2015 - AG Gani Patail announced a special multi-agency task force comprising the AG’s Chambers, the police, MACC and Bank Negara Malaysia to investigate 1MDB’s money trails.
July 28, 2015 - Muhyiddin Yassin sacked as deputy prime minister, Apandi replaced Gani Patail as AG, Public Account Committee members investigating 1MDB were given cabinet positions. This was amidst rumours that Najib was going to be charged by Gani Patail.
Aug 3, 2015 - Two MACC officers and a member of the AG’s Chambers arrested on leak over 1MDB investigations.
Aug 5 - Apandi disbands special task force investigating 1MDB.
On Jan 26, 2016, Apandi cleared Najib of wrongdoings.
These indicate a series of events which were designed to dishonestly absolve Najib of any wrongdoing. It was only the loss of the May 2018 general elections that led to Najib’s prosecution - following the appointment of Tommy Thomas to the post of AG to replace Apandi.
Currently, Najib has been convicted on some charges and is facing trial for a slew of other charges, including those relating to that RM2.6 billion “donation”. He has been convicted for offences which will jail him for 12 years and fine him RM210 million for just one series of offences if his final appeal to the Federal Court fails.
If we are allowed to speculate, is all this happening because of Najib’s continued efforts to clean himself up after having been dragged through the muck and the mud over the 1MDB issue? If a deal is made with Jho Low, does that not substantially increase his chances of doing a deal too?
Najib has used social media and other means to champion his causes and clean up his image, often resorting to half-truths to make his points. At a rally in Pekan soon after he lost the elections in May 2018, he said he did not steal money but was only accused of money laundering.
More recently, on June 1, after his conviction, at a speech commemorating the 48th anniversary of Barisan Nasional, he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, just so you know, I am not accused of stealing any money. Rather under AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Act), I have used money not for myself.”
He was the one who allowed Jho Low to do all that damage to the country which has caused billions of ringgit in thefts and many billions more in opportunity costs lost, by for instance putting the money to good use for the country.
It is a good thing that the AG’s office has put a stop to this but it is a frightening thought that they even contemplated making a deal with a criminal who was jointly responsible for the world’s largest theft of money ever.
How much more leeway will be given to Jho Low and Najib? - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM, a former editor at online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer and analyst.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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