The Malaysian Insight

LOW Taek Jho sounds like he is willing to help MACC in its probe into the flow of RM42 million from SRC International into Najib Razak’s personal bank account.

Hours after the MACC put out a notice seeking Low’s help in their probe, informed sources told The Malaysian Insight that his lawyers reached out in an email to the commission to indicate that the businessman was happy to cooperate and assist them.

It is unclear ‎whether this means that the billionaire playboy, commonly known as Jho Low, will return to Malaysia or whether he will meet MACC investigators in a foreign jurisdiction.

Still, his willingness to start talking will cause considerable discomfort to the former prime minister and his wife, Rosmah Mansor. Both of them have been questioned at length over the transfer of funds from SRC International.

While the MACC is said to have built up a strong case against Najib, Low’s testimony would certainly plug any gaping holes in the prosecution’s case.

For as long as Najib was the prime minister of Malaysia, Low enjoyed protection and cover from enforcement action in the country.

That luxury ended on May 9 when his friend, protector and confidant lost power.

As long as Najib was the prime minister and all powerful in Malaysia, government agencies didn’t have the appetite to seriously go after the Penang-born businessman.

Investigation papers into his role in the 1MDB scandal were opened and a statement was taken from him but there was no global manhunt for Low. ‎Neither was there a request for him to return home and connect the dots in the investigation into the diversion of funds from the state-owned entity.

Even when the US Department of Justice announced to the world the role played by Low, Reza Aziz and MO1 in allegedly siphoning billions from 1MDB, the Najib administration didn’t move with haste.

If anything, the decision by the US to lump Najib and Low together just made them more reliant on each other. They seemed to be tied at the hip with their survival depending on them sticking to their narrative about 1MDB.

But that equation changed on May 9 as the Najib-led Barisan Nasional crumbled to defeat at the hands of Pakatan Harapan.

With that change in political landscape,  the umbrella of protection that was once afforded to Low ‎was removed.

The Dr Mahathir administration has made it one of its key deliverables to lift the veil fully over the 1MDB saga. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas said yesterday that no wrong doer in this sorry episode will be spared the full force of the law.

So, it was just a matter of time before the MACC issued a notice seeking Low’s cooperation.

His willingness to talk suggests that it is each man for himself. – June 7, 2018.