‘IF EVERYONE IS INNOCENT IN 1MDB CASE, WHO IS GUILTY?ʼ
Deputy law minister hits out at Jho Low for his ‘I am innocent’ remarks
IF everyone is innocent in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case, who is guilty, asked Deputy Law Minister Mohamed Hanipa Maidin yesterday.
He said, sarcastically, that perhaps all those implicated were in the right and the people had misread the entire affair.
Hanipa’s remarks came after Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, proclaimed his innocence following the release of Billion Dollar Whale. The book claims that the businessman squandered away Malaysian taxpayers’ money, laundered through 1MDB-related transactions, to throw lavish parties and buy gifts for his celebrity friends.
He reiterated that Low, who was being hunted by Singaporean and Malaysian authorities, had been singled out as the “orchestrator of the US$4.5 billion robbery” involving the state sovereign fund.
“Maybe, they are all in the right. Maybe, they are not in the wrong. What is confirmed is that we (the people) were wrong for rejecting Barisan Nasional in the 14th General Election for, among others, the 1MDB issue. Perhaps,” he said on Facebook yesterday under the tag, Nonsense 8.
Hanipa said this while alluding to Low’s statements on the website where he stressed “let me be clear, I am innocent.”
“He should have written ‘I am presumed innocent’. That is more accurate and correct. For the record, Low was charged in absentia with money laundering.”
Hanipa said in his experience, those accused of a crime would say: “I am innocent” like a mantra, and similar to Low, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had also stressed his innocence in the 1MDB case.
“When he (Najib) was released on bail, Reuters reported that he said: ‘I am confident of my innocence, I believe in my innocence’.”
He said that his lawyers had put forth a slightly better argument that he was a victim.