Jho & 4 others face new 1MDB charges

N. Caledonia rocked

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec 5, (Agencies): Malaysian police said Wednesday they have filed new criminal charges against fugitive financier Low Taek Jho and four others over the multibilliondollar looting of state investment fund 1MDB.

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 Low and his father with money laundering in August. Last month, US prosecutors charged Low and two former Goldman Sachs bankers with conspiracy to launder 1MDB money.

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

He said Wednesday that arrest warrants have been issued for the five, who have fled Malaysia. If they are found in any country, the government will request their extradition so they can face charges in a Malaysian court, 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 huge scale of the scandal led to the shocking election ouster of Najib’s coalition, and ushered in the first change of power since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

The new government reopened a probe into 1MDB that was stifled under Najib’s rule. Najib and his wife have been charged with multiple counts of corruption in the scandal, and have criticized 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.

Jho

Jakarta hunts suspects:

Indonesian soldiers hunted Wednesday for rebels suspected of killing as many as two dozen construction workers in restive Papua province, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution.

The survivor’s account detailed the killing of at least 19 people, which if confirmed would mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a lowlevel independence insurgency.

A Facebook account purportedly run by the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) said the armed group had killed 24 workers on the orders of regional commander Ekianus Kogoya.

Authorities have yet to confirm how many were killed in the weekend attack, but the military said 15 bodies that have been recovered would be flown by helicopter to the town of Timika on Thursday.

On Wednesday, some 150 military personnel were focusing their operation at Nduga, a remote mountainous region where a stateowned contractor has been building bridges and roads as part of efforts to boost infrastructure.

Many Papuans view Indonesia as a colonial occupier and its building work as a way to exert more control over an impoverished region that shares a border with Papua New Guinea, an independent nation.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Wednesday he backed the hunt for those behind what he described as the “alleged assault”.

7.5 quake off New Caledonia:

A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck near New Caledonia Wednesday, triggering a tsunami alert and emergency evacuations across a swathe of the South Pacific, but there were no reports of serious damage or injuries.

Authorities said the quake, followed by at least 20 strong aftershocks, was centred about 170 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands at a depth of just 10 kilometres.

Island residents said the initial quake shook the walls of buildings and in places turned the sea foamy.

Tsunami waves were recorded moving out from the epicentre, prompting people to flee to high ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned surges of up to three metres (10 feet) could be expected and shallow quakes of that magnitude can be devastating.