Five questions I would like to ask Jho Low
I said at my 108th parliamentary constituency visit to Tanjong in Penang during my “Pantang Undur – Berani kerana Benar” nation-wide tour yesterday that Penang billionaire Jho Low is the “alpha and omega” of Malaysia’s first global financial scandal, that he probably knows more about the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion ‘donation’ twin mega scandals than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and that he should return to Malaysia to appear before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) to testify in its unfinished inquiry into the 1MDB scandal.
There are five questions I would like Jho Low to elucidate to the PAC, Parliament and the Malaysian public, viz:
- How much was spent in the special operations during the 13th General Elections to defeat DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, in the Penang State Assembly seat of Air Puteh, when money flowed like water in the constituency with free dinners, free-wheeling angpows, lucky draws and the whole paraphernalia of give-aways to the Air Puteh voters? Was it RM30 million or RM40 million? Did the money come from 1MDB through various bogus off-shore companies? Was he ever investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for corruption and money politics for the special operations in the Air Puteh state assembly seat campaign in the 2013 General Elections?
- What is his relationship with 1MDB and Good Star Limited? When PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin unilaterally and arbitrarily deleted a key section in the PAC Report on 1MDB, he focussed attention on the genesis of the 1MDB global scandal.
- What is his relationship with the bogus company Aabar Investment PJS Limited incorporated in British Virgin Islands which was the mistaken or “fraudulent” receipient of US$3.5 billion payments by 1MDB meant for the Abu Dhabi company, Aabar Investment PJS?
- Did he sent an email about “681 American pies” signifying the forthcoming deposit of US$681 million into Najib’s personal bank accounts in March 2013, which indicateda his intimate role in Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal?
- What is his relationship with a second bogus company, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Limited, another BVI registered company, which is alleged to have sent enormous currency payments into Najib’s personal bank accounts.
The key section states that Bank Negara Malaysia had been informed by the relevant overseas authorities on a voluntary basis that the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Limited is an individual unrelated to the Petrosaudi group. 1MDB has made payments of US$700 million and US$330 million to Good Star Limited in 2009 and 2011 respectively even though the funds were meant for its investments with Petrosaudi.
Does Jho Low deny that he was the beneficial owner of Good Star Limited?
Does he deny that he was the mastermind of the original 1MDB-PetroSaudi Joint Venture deal in Sept 2009 which launched 1MDB and Malaysia into the first global financial scandal?
What is his relationship with another BVI bogus company Tanore Finance Corp, which global investigators believe was the company which transferred US$681 million to Najib’s accounts. It has been reported that in all, more than US$1 billion had been deposited into Najib’s account over several years.