A team of MACC officers had met with Syrian-French businessperson Bachar Kiwan in March last year to seek information surrounding his involvement with fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho and allegations of laundering 1MDB funds through Kuwait.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki in a statement to Malaysiakini confirmed claims by Bachar on the meeting in Paris, France, where the Kuwaiti-born has been living since he fled the gulf state in 2017.
“Yes, MACC officers met Bachar in Paris in March last year.
“The meeting was held with the online presence of then special adviser to the prime minister on law and human rights Azalina Othman Said and National Anti-Financial Crime Centre director-general Mustafar Ali,” said Azam (above).
Azam, however, told Malaysiakini the MACC did not obtain any substantial information from Bachar in relation to their probe that initially uncovered a money trail from China to a Chinese bank in Kuwait, and onward to a Cayman Islands entity controlled by Low.
Bachar, who described himself as a whistleblower, revealed in a Malaysiakini interview that he met with MACC officers in March last year.
“However, it was made clear by them that the AG would not approve a case that would further expose Najib at that time,” he said in reference to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who at the time was already on trial over the deposit of RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds into his private bank accounts.
The meeting came about a month after Bachar had accused the MACC of dragging its feet to meet him, despite initial contacts between his lawyers and MACC’s lawyers from May 2021 to October the same year.
“And after I had offered them extensive information, they told me in September 2022 they had not received the green light to proceed with the case to recover the funds for Malaysia,” claimed Bachar.
Failed deal
Malaysiakini understands there had been a failed attempt to broker a deal between Bachar and MACC with the information on Jho Low being offered in exchange for assistance to seek his release from money-laundering charges being heard in Kuwait at the time.
“Bachar, like Low, is a fugitive and was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment,” stressed Azam who referred to the latest convictions by a Kuwaiti court.
Bachar’s account of his difficult relationship with Low had also been reported in detail by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Sarawak Report in 2020.
At the time, WSJ reported that 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 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. - Mkini
On Wednesday, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas reported that a sheikh, his partner, and two foreigners have been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, while a lawyer was sentenced to seven years on money laundering charges involving a Malaysian fund.
Sarawak Report identified the sheikh as Sheikh Sabah Jaber, son of a former Kuwaiti prime minister. His partner was identified as Low’s associate Hamad Al Wazan and the lawyer as Saud Abdelmohsan.
According to Al-Qabas, the five were accused of laundering Chinese currency equivalent to KD343,700,000 (RM4.95 billion), knowing they were illegal proceeds embezzled from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
The funds were used to pay nearly US$1 billion (RM4.4 billion) for Low-controlled assets in Malaysia to pay some of the 1MDB debts.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.