“Is it not peculiar that Najib and his legal team frequently talk about the need to bring Jho Low back but hardly ever mention Jasmine, Casey, Eric and Terrence? Aren’t these three equally pivotal in helping shed more light on the 1MDB scandal?”
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
د مانكه ليما اينديۏيدو يڠ ‘هيلڠ’ اين، نجيب؟
There are five other Malaysian fugitives besides Jho Low that are still wanted by the Malaysian government but are rarely mentioned.
All of them were accused of laundering money linked to 1MDB, and all of them are equally as important as Jho Low in helping unravel the full scope of the 1MDB scandal.
The five are as follows:
1. Jasmine Loo Ai Swan: A former 1MDB official, Jasmine is believed to be “1MDB Official 3” as named by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).
Jasmine is accused of laundering a total of RM24 million to River Dee International SA (BVI), an account in the British Virgin Islands.
She has been sentenced to not more than 5 years of prison or fine of not more than RM5 million or both.
2. Eric Tan Kim Loong: He gave a statement to MACC in 2015 claiming that he didn’t know who received the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’.
Tan was appointed a nominee of the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prince Faisal, Prince Saud and other members of the royal family via a letter dated Aug 3, 2009.
However, subsequent unspecified events later cast doubts on his capacity as their nominee, causing Prince Turki to issue him another letter dated Sept 28, 2015 stating foreign investments and setting up entities such as Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Ltd and Tanore Finance Corp were done based on their instructions, said Tan.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Eric would make for an interesting witness in the 1MDB trial.
3. Casey Tang Keng Chee: A former 1MDB official, Casey played a role in a misleading bank transfer of RM2.8 million to Jho Low’s account.
4. Terrence Geh Chong Heng: A former 1MDB official, Terrence played a role in transferring funds and investments from SRC International to Pacific Harbour fund.
5. Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil: A former CEO of SRC International, Nik Faisal allegedly approved the transfer of RM48 million to Jho Low’s account.
He was last spotted in Hong Kong.
It is interesting to note that the aforementioned five ‘absconded’ from the country before the 14th general election, indicating that the move was premeditated even though they were on good terms with then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
In fact, Bank Negara Malaysia had summoned both Casey and Jasmine for questioning in 2015, but they never appeared.
Yet, in March 2017, Najib seemed to absolve them of crime, claiming that they were no longer on the central bank’s radar as the previous domestic investigation had been concluded.
So why did the duo abscond? Why did Eric, a key witness to the RM2.6 billion saga, run?
Did Najib ask them to leave the country, perhaps to conceal some truths that he does not want the people to find out?
Is it not peculiar that Najib and his legal team frequently talk about the need to bring Jho Low back but hardly ever mention Jasmine, Casey, Eric and Terrence?
WAJIB BACA:
