The hunt for Jho Low: is net closing on 1MDB’s billion-dollar whale?

It’s been a tough year for the fugitive Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, accused of one of the biggest frauds ever

He’s given up US$1 billion in assets and now his former BFF Najib Razak has thrown him under the bus. Still, he has his freedom – but for how long?

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Protesters demonstrating against alleged corruption at 1MDB with portraits of Jho Low in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: AP

Published: 12:30pm, 15 Dec 2019Updated: 5:47pm, 17 Dec 2019

Even for a man known as the “Asian Great Gatsby”, 2019 was an eventful year – to put it mildly.

And for Low Taek Jho, the fugitive financier accused of masterminding a multibillion-dollar looting of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund, lurid headlines would have been the least of his worries.

Throughout the year, Jho Low, as he is known, was hit by a series of setbacks as prosecutors in six jurisdictions, including Malaysia, doubled down on efforts to resolve the long-running saga and recover the lost funds.

Among the most sensational developments was Low’s settlement with the American authorities, in which he agreed to give up nearly US$1 billion in assets – but without admitting any guilt. But equally troubling for Low would have beenindications from the government of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that he is now the country’s most wanted man. Like neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia has issued an arrest warrant for Low and in July a local court approved the forfeiture of 48 million ringgit (US$11 million) of funds from his father Larry Low Hock Peng’s bank accounts.

The senior Low is a fugitive as well, and last year was charged in absentia in Malaysia for his role in the 1MDB case. Police are seeking information on the whereabouts of Low’s mother Goh Gaik Ewe.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has signalled an intent to pursue Jho Low. Photo: Bloomberg

Meanwhile, the hard-nosed new police chief Abdul Hamid Bador has intimated that he knows more than he can say in public about Low’s whereabouts, and has pledged to “bring back” the businessman by the end of the year. At one point, Low was believed to be living in China under the protection of officials in Beijing, but his publicists have denied this, saying he had gained asylum in a third country for being politically persecuted in Malaysia.

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