1MDB scandal: Malaysia asks Interpol to find Jho Low, financier linked to missing US$4.5 billion
Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, has not been charged with any crime, however US authorities have said they are pursuing a criminal probe into 1MDB-linked transactions
Malaysia has asked Interpol to try to locate a Malaysian financier for questioning over his suspected involvement in a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the deputy prime minister said on Monday.
The US Justice Department is seeking to seize US$1.7 billion in assets that it said were bought with misappropriated funds from 1MDB, according to dozens of civil lawsuits filed by the department in the past two years.
The assets include a private jet, a hotel and real estate in New York, and US$107 million interest in EMI Music Publishing bought by Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, the lawsuits said.
Low, whose whereabouts is unknown, has not been charged with any crime. But US authorities have said they are pursuing a criminal probe into 1MDB-linked transactions.
“We are confident Interpol will act professionally, but the police have yet to receive any detailed information (on Low’s whereabouts),” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in parliament.
A spokesman for Low, whose company Jynwel Capital is based in Hong Kong, could not be reached for comment. Low has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying that the US Justice Department’s actions were “a further example of global overreach in pursuit of a deeply flawed case”.