KUALA LUMPUR: The son of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed disappointment that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who is allegedly linked to the billion-ringgit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, has not been brought to justice.
Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Najib also expressed concern that Low’s accomplices were made witnesses in the high profile case.
More than $US4 billion was stolen from the 1MDB fund and spent by perpetrators on art, aircraft, a yacht, diamonds and property. Low allegedly used 1MDB funds to support a lavish lifestyle in the United States.
Nizar voiced disappoinment with the High Court’s guilty verdict against his father last Friday.
The High Court sentenced Najib to 15 years in prison after convicting him on 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power connected to the looting of the 1MDB sovereign-wealth fund.
Nizar said: “The main culprit in this case, Jho Low, has still not been found to this day, and those conspiring with Jho Low were made witnesses.
“Just think about it,” he said in a video posted on Facebook on Dec 27.
“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the government itself once obtained confirmation that the donation to my father was from the Saudi Arabian government, and the investigation was satisfactory.
“However, in court, hearsay and double hearsay were relied upon,” Nizar said in a post accompanying the video.
The former prime minister’s son vowed that his family will continue to stand by his father while also thanking his father’s supporters for their support.
Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, in delivering his marathon verdict, rejected Najib’s defence that the money had been donated by Saudi Arabia.
He also said there was evidence that all of Low’s instructions were treated by 1MDB’s top brass as coming directly from Najib.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
