IGP: Search for Jho Low still on

 

Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani has reiterated the police’s commitment to track down fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low, and bring him to face justice.

He urged those with information on Low’s whereabouts to contact the Commercial Crime Investigation Department’s (CCID) hotline at 013-2111222 (by WhatsApp only) or the nearest police station.

“Every information received will be assessed for its veracity and channelled to Interpol to obtain further verification from the member countries concerned,” Acryl Sani said in a statement last night.

The statement came after journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope highlighted supposed sightings of Low (above) and his family abroad in 2018 and 2019, amid a widening crackdown on the 1MDB scandal.

The IGP said the police have pressed 13 charges against Low in absentia, and have obtained an Interpol red notice against him in 2018.

“The red notice is of the category that is only accessible by law enforcement agencies in Interpol member states, since Interpol does not deem the suspect to be a threat to public safety,” he added.

In addition, he pointed out that Singapore and US authorities have also filed charges against the fugitive wanted for his alleged role in the embezzlement of 1MDB funds.

Acryl Sani said Interpol’s 195 member states have an obligation to pass on information on the whereabouts of wanted persons, who have a red notice issued against them, to facilitate an extradition process.

However, no extradition request could be made against Low because no Interpol member was able to confirm his supposed whereabouts in their country.

IGP Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani

“So far, efforts to track down Low are still ongoing and every information received about the suspect’s whereabouts has been assessed for its veracity by the police, including through cooperative channels with authorities in the countries concerned,” the IGP added.

Previously, former Wall Street Journal reporters Wright and Hope claimed that they received many tip-offs suggesting that Low had been laying low in China in recent years.

Among others, they claimed Low had been photographed at Disneyland, Shanghai, in 2019, and his wife Jesselynn Chuan Teik Ying applied to join the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sometime in 2018.

Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify these claims.

Wright and Hope are running a crowdsourcing campaign in the hope of locating Low’s whereabouts following the jailing of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. - Mkini