1MDB scandal: Anwar says Malaysia in talks with countries to speed up Jho Low’s extradition

Anwar says his administration is working with ‘many countries’ to repatriate Low, who masterminded the looting of US$4.5 billion from the sovereign wealth fund
The Malaysian prime minister refused to be drawn over reports the billionaire, on the run since 2018, has been hiding in China

Malaysia

Hadi Azmi

Published: 4:11pm, 5 May 2023

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Malaysia is working with “many countries” to expedite the return of fugitive financier Jho Low, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday as he refused to be drawn over reports that the flamboyant fixer at the heart of the 1MDB scandal is in China and could soon be offered up by Beijing.

Low – dubbed the mastermind of the web of conspiracies involving Malaysia’s state-owned 1MDB fund which saw US$4.5 billion stolen and laundered through art, diamonds and property – has been on the run since 2018 after his benefactor and co-conspirator, former prime minister Najib Razak, lost power in that year’s election.

Since taking office last November, Anwar has pledged to chase down the culprits linked to the sprawling, global embezzlement scandal and return as much of the money to Malaysian taxpayers as possible.

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However, he would not be drawn into speculation over Low’s whereabouts and allegations he is holed up in China, with Beijing’s consent.

“We never confirmed where he is, but we are negotiating with countries to expedite the process,” Anwar told reporters, declining to name the nations but insisting they were supporting Malaysia’s quest. “Of course, it is a complicated process. It involves many countries, intelligence services, Interpol, et cetera.”

On April 20, investigative journalist Bradley Hope, who co-wrote the book Billion Dollar Whale on Low’s exploits in the 1MDB scandal, published a report that the businessman’s arrest “is in play”, saying that China was ready to hand him over to Malaysian authorities as part of a diplomatic charm offensive.

Adding it could happen in a matter of weeks, Hope’s report claimed that the matter was discussed by Anwar in his recent inaugural visit to Beijing in March.

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Malaysia's ex-PM Najib Razak fails in final bid to overturn 1MDB-related corruption conviction

Disgraced ex-premier Najib, who has been described by prosecutors as Low’s “mirror image”, is serving a 12-year sentence after being found guilty in one of several 1MDB-related court cases.

Meanwhile, for Low, the rumoured extradition to Malaysia is not the only legal headache he is facing. He was sentenced in absentia to a 10-year prison term on money-laundering charges relating to the 1MDB scandal by a Kuwaiti court in March.

Back home, a Malaysian court in October already handed jail sentences to Low and his father Larry Low Hock Peng – who is also on the run – for contempt of court, after the duo failed to comply with judicial orders served on them demanding them to disclose their whereabouts and their assets in a civil suit filed by the troubled Malaysian fund.

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An attempt to settle the 1MDB-related charges against Low for US$337 million was also reportedly rejected by Malaysia’s Attorney General’s Chamber in September.

The chances of him giving himself up remain slim and he maintains that “it is simply not possible to receive a fair trial in Malaysia”, claiming that he is being tried by the media and victimised by Malaysian authorities.

Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah, however, said that Low’s absence had instead deprived his client of getting a fair trial, calling the fugitive “the number one crook” in the multibillion-dollar scandal.