The end of innocence
THE plump perpetrator is at it again. Under a photo that showed the bandit beaming beatifically, a headline read simply: “Low maintains innocence amid US charges of money laundering.”
Yes, you heard right. On Thursday, the felonious fugitive was finally charged, together with two former Goldman Sachs employees, by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) with fraud and money laundering.
But wait! A spokesman for the oval outlaw in Sydney, Australia said that Low “maintains” his innocence. It appears that our man Jho has spokespeople from Singapore to Serbia.
“The bond offerings detailed in the indictment were undertaken openly and lawfully between experienced, well-regulated financial institutions and government entities” said the statement from our man’s spokesman.
The DOJ might have some reservations about the use of the word “lawfully”. Just saying.
The statement concluded on a heroic note. “The US Department of Justice specifically states that the charges in the indictment are allegations, and that Low is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” the statement said.
All true, alas. The fact is our man aka Fat Boy was a corpulent charmer who dated Hollywood actresses and wined and dined dignitaries. On the other hand, he is alleged to have stolen enough money to leave several Malaysian generations in debt high enough to change the name of the rating agency to Standard and Rich.
But we should hasten to add an observation: the determination of guilt or innocence is precisely the intention of a trial which, however, require the presence of the accused and so far the fat fraudster has remained, shall we say, at large.
The ample alumnus of Stanford is now at liberty to choose between a trial in Malaysia or the US. He is free to choose between two jurisdictions. Of course, there is always the possibility that Singapore and Switzerland might also throw the book at him in which case Fat Boy will have even more choices. But will he?
One suspects he prefers to remain wherever he’s hiding and continue to issue statements using proxies from Basel to Bombay, all the while protesting his innocence and urging Malaysians to “keep an open mind.”
In fact, the statement from Sydney asked for exactly that. The palatial pirate felt that “when all the evidence is known ” everyone would be convinced of his innocence.
That raises even more puzzling questions. Why then would the rotund rascal ask former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin for immunity from prosecution in return for showing them where the assets were located?
To say that Fat Boy is now a bona fide celebrity and a global phenomenon is an understatement. Bernie Madoff had nothing on him. At least one book – Billion Dollar Whale – has been written exclusively about him while he co-stars in another two. But the felonious fatso remains as modest as ever, preferring to shun the spotlight and remain as shy and retiring as any billionaire hiding in China might,
Should we shed a silent tear for the plundering Penangite, lonely and unable to return to the country of his birth and wanted, preferably alive, in several other countries?
Perish the thought. He’s probably lunching on caviar and Dom Perignon as we speak.