Investigation completed, Justo to face blackmail charge

Former PetroSaudi International executive Xavier Andre Justo will face a blackmailing charge, and it is up to the prosecutor to indict him now that the police have completed their investigation, according to Thai police.

"Justo has only one charge againt him - blackmailing his former employer.

It is an offence that he committed in Thailand, and it is a heavier charge than extortion," Pol Col Kornchai Klayklueng, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, told Bernama.

Kornchai said the case was submitted to the prosecutors this morning, "but I don’t know when they will file the case in court".

He said the case was investigated entirely by Thai police, without interference from any foreign country.

Under the Thai Penal Code, blackmail carries a jail term of one year to 10 years and a fine of 2,000 baht (RM222) to 20,000 baht (RM2,223).

The penalty for extortion is imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine of not more than 10,000 baht (RM1,111).

Justo was arrested in Koh Samui on June 22 after PetroSaudi filed a complaint.

Justo had confessed that he attempted to blackmail his former employer but denied tampering with the digital documents that he had obtained from the company and then given to two parties, one of them Tong Kooi Ong, the owner of the Edge Media Group.

The Malaysian police are interested in interviewing Justo as some of the documents are linked to PetroSaudi's dealings with 1Malaysia Development Berhad, but have not so far been allowed access to the Swiss national.