Malaysia Authority Says 1MDB Fugitive Jho Low Hiding in Macau: Report

Jynwel Capital Limited CEO Jho Low attends the 2014 Social Good Summit at 92Y in New York City on Sept. 21, 2014. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Malaysia’s anti-graft agency has revealed that Jho Low, the Malaysian financier wanted for his role in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, is currently hiding in Macau.

The financier, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, has been a fugitive since 2015 when investigations into the theft of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB were launched.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that individuals wanted in the 1MDB graft case, particularly Jho Low, are believed to be hiding in Macau.

“This was also confirmed by several individuals who have seen Jho Low in Macau,” the news outlet quoted the MACC as saying.

The MACC made the remarks just weeks after detaining Kee Kok Thiam, a Malaysian associate of Low and a suspect in the 1MDB case, who it said was deported from Macau for overstaying his visa.

MACC officers interrogated Kee upon his arrival in Malaysia on May 3, during which Kee confirmed that he had met Low and several other 1MDB fugitives in Macau. He also claimed that Low had asked him not to testify in the case.

The commission released Kee as no charges had been brought against him and said that its investigation of Kee was focused on his assets in Singapore, which has been completed and submitted to the attorney general.

Reports of Kee’s death broke just weeks after his release. According to his lawyers, the 56-year-old man died in a hospital on May 29 after suffering “a sudden massive stroke,” The Star reported.

China Holding Low ‘On Tight Leash’

1MDB is a Malaysian wealth fund founded by Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak while he was in power in 2009 to fund economic development projects. U.S. investigators found that about $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s cronies.

Low, who was suspected mastermind of the scheme, has maintained his innocence. Malaysian authorities have revoked his passport, issued an arrest demand, and applied for an Interpol red alert against him.

Meanwhile, author Bradley Hope said he believes that Low is under house arrest in Shanghai. Hope is the co-writer of the book “Billion Dollar Whale“ released in 2018, which chronicled the 1MDB saga.

Hope stated that Low was in Macau, Hong Kong, the Chinese city of Shenzhen, and Thailand between 2015 and 2018. But after the electoral defeat of Najib in May 2018, his movements have become “more restricted to the mainland,” he added.

“China is holding Jho on a tight leash because of negotiations with Malaysia but also because his patrons in the spy services (Sun Lijun) are arrested and business partners at CCCC ousted,” he stated on Twitter, referring to the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Malaysian police had said in 2018 that Low was believed to have left Macau for an unknown destination, citing an email from Macau authorities.

The Macau Judiciary Police confirmed at the time that they had sent a response to Malaysia but would “not disclose personal entry and exit information.”

On April 20, Hope stated on the Whale Hunting website that Malaysia’s government was believed to have been in talks with China over Low’s extradition.

He cited sources indicating that such an arrangement was being discussed following Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s trip to China in March. His sources claimed that Anwarmet with “high-level government officials” and CCCC representatives during his visit.

“When Najib lost the election and Malaysian investigators powered up, suddenly Jho became a liability of the worst kind. Those same investigators found all the minutes of the Jho-Najib-China discussions in the house of one of Najib’s minions. Those same papers suggested Malaysia was asking China to spy on Tom Wright in Hong Kong,” he stated.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.