Malaysian financier Jho Low (Photo: Getty) Hanoi (VNA) – The US Department of Justice has reached a deal with Malaysian financier Jho Low to retake almost 1 billion USD in funds Low and his family had misappropriated from Malaysian investment fund 1MDB.
It is a record asset capture for a US anti-corruption probe.
The department said in a statement on October 30 that Low faces charges in both the US and Malaysia over his central role in the multi-billion-USD corruption scandal at the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was found by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The businessman, whose whereabouts remain unknown, agreed to give up high-end real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London and other luxurious assets like cruisers.
The message in this case is that the US is not a safe heaven for pilfered funds, said an American attorney.
High-level officials of 1MDB and associates including Low had siphoned over 4.5 billion USD belonging to the state-owned wealth fund from 2009 to 2015, the department said.
Officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche Bank have all been arrested in probes into multi-year conspiracy.
The 1MDB was founded by Nazib in 2009 with an aim for socio-economic development. Malaysian and American investigators believe that the fund has looted about 4.5 billion USD, about 1 billion USD of which was sent to the former Malaysian PM’s personal bank account.
Najib has now been hit with a total of 42 charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust but he repeatedly rejected the accusation.
Corruption charge in the scandal contributed to Nazib’s losing power at the general election on May 9, 2018. At least six countries are investigating the scandal./.
VNA
