New charges for financier in 1MDB case

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said yesterday that they have filed new criminal charges against fugitive financier Low Taek Jho and four others over the multibillion-dollar looting of state investment fund 1MDB.

Mr Low is wanted for his alleged role as the mastermind in a massive money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from the indebted 1MDB fund. He remains at large, but maintains his innocence. Malaysian authorities charged Mr Low and his father for money laundering in August. Last month, US prosecutors charged Mr Low and two former Goldman Sachs bankers with conspiracy to launder 1MDB money.

Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said Mr Low and four others, mostly former 1MDB employees, were charged on Tuesday with 13 new money laundering and criminal breach of trust offences involving losses of $1.17 billion (38.2 billion baht) of 1MDB funds.

He said yesterday that arrest warrants have been issued for the five, who had fled Malaysia. If they are found in any country, the government will request their extradition so they can be brought back to Malaysia to face charges in court, Inspector General Fuzi said in a statement.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak started the 1MDB fund when he took power in 2009 to promote economic development, but it accumulated billions in debts, and is being investigated in the US and several other countries. Anger over the scandal led to the shocking election ouster of Mr Najib’s coalition, and ushered in the first change of power since the country’s independence in 1957.

The new government reopened the probe into 1MDB that was stifled under Mr Najib’s rule. Mr Najib and his wife have been charged with multiple counts of corruption over the scandal and slammed the charges as political vengeance. His lawyer, his former deputy, two ex-senior government officials and a former chief state minister have also been charged with graft.

Insp Gen Fuzi said Mr Low was charged with five counts of money laundering involving transfers totaling $1.03 billion into a Swiss bank account between September 2009 and October 2011. Mr Low and his aide, Eric Tan Kim Loong, face two more money laundering charges for receiving $126 million in a Singapore-based bank account, he said.

1MDB’s former lawyer Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, its ex-business development director Casey Tang Keng Chee and former finance director Terence Geh Choh Heng were also charged.

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Low slammed the charges against him as a “continuation of the trial by media and political reprisals” by Malaysia’s new government.

“Mr Low maintains his innocence. As previously stated, Mr Low will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics,’’ it said, alleging that Mr Low cannot get a fair trial in Malaysia.