1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) mastermind and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, is said to be living in a luxury neighbourhood in Shanghai, China, and working for the Chinese government.
This is according to Bradley Hope and Tom Wright, the co-authors of Billion Dollar Whale, which documents the financial exploits of Jho Low and how he made off with billions of ringgit from 1MDB.
In a YouTube live, the duo said that Jho Low is now in the Green Hills neighbourhood in Shanghai.
“He is living a life of luxury, he is driving in fancy cars. His family is travelling outside of China. This guy has become a supervillain essentially. He is definitely not under any house arrest. He has the freedom of movements here that you wouldn’t have thought possible using fake documents,” Wright added.
Hope claimed that Jho Low has also become an adviser for the Chinese government, especially helping major Chinese companies that are dealing with the US government.
“Low has developed a kind of reputation in China as a strategist or a problem solver, because he has a lobbying network. He has made himself indispensable to the Chinese government and Chinese businesses who don’t understand, perhaps, how the rest of the world works. He’s kind of a dark art coordinator for this country (China) now.
“Everywhere he goes, he will be followed by at least two Chinese guards who [are believed to be] government employees. He is working on sensitive Chinese cases. Low has an office in the Shanghai Financial Centre. What we have learned from a variety of sources, he is actually back in business in a big way,” he added.
To hide his real identity, Hope revealed that Jho Low is holding a fake Australian passport with the name “Constantinos Achilles Veis”.
Jho Low played a key role in the misappropriation of money amounting to US$4.5 billion from 1MDB through a web of transactions routed through several countries.
Having been on the run since 2015, he is said to have been sighted in China, Hong Kong and Macau. China has denied Jho Low being in the country.
The 1MDB scandal led to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak being sentenced to a 12-year jail term and fined RM210 million in August 2022, after the apex court dismissed his final appeal in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case in August 2022. SRC is a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
But in February 2024, the Pardons Board halved Najib’s jail term and reduced the fine to RM50 million.
The US has imposed a fine of US$1.6 billion on Goldman Sachs for its role in allowing the diversion of a substantial portion of the US$6.5 billion raised by 1MDB. Other countries such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates have jailed bankers and officials involved in the 1MDB scandal.
Source : The Edge
