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1MDB fugitive Jho Low is hiding out in Macau, Malaysia says
- Malaysia’s anti-corruption commission said it’d confirmed the fugitive financier’s whereabouts with several witnesses, including another 1MDB suspect
- Malaysian authorities have been working to repatriate Low for years. He has been accused of stealing US$1.42 billion from the scandal-hit fund
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Malaysia believes financier Low Taek Jho is hiding in Macau, along with others wanted in the multibillion ringgit 1MDB scandal, Al Jazeera reported, citing the national anti-corruption body.
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The information was confirmed by several individuals who had spotted the fugitive, better known as Jho Low, in Macau, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission told Al Jazeera in a written response. This included Kee Kok Thiam, a 1MDB suspect who was arrested and released by the MACC earlier this month.
Malaysian authorities have been working to repatriate Jho Low for years. He was first charged in absentia in 2018 by a Malaysian court with eight counts of money laundering and issued a warrant of arrest for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.
Low publicly declared his innocence that same year.
“With hindsight I may have done things differently, like any young person, but any mistakes I made do not amount to the sweepingly broad and destructive allegations being made against me,” Low said in a signed letter on his now-defunct website.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has accused Low of stealing US$1.42 billion from three bond transactions that Goldman Sachs arranged for the Malaysian wealth fund.
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A separate Malaysian court in 2020 said Low played a crucial role in transferring 42 million ringgit from a former 1MDB unit to ex-prime minister Najib Razak’s accounts. Najib is now serving a 12-year prison sentence for his crimes related to 1MDB, and faces several other trials.
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