Be haste in tracking down Jho Low

In the movie 'The International', an operative of the The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and US District Attorney, Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) investigated corruption in a fictional merchant bank, IBBC, that serviced organised crime and corrupt governments.

The 2009 movie was inspired by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal of the 1980’s when investigators from several countries and international agencies discovered that the London-headquartered and Luxembourg-incorporated bank was involved in massive money laundering and financial crimes, and illegally gained controlling interest in a major American bank.

But even before the movie was made and the real life BCCI collapsed, we had our own equally sensational banking scandal – the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF).

We could yet face a similar scandal in the shape of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Already there is an uncanny similarity between the BMF scandal of the early 1980’s and the development surrounding 1MDB. While BMF and its parent company, Bank Bumiputera, is long gone, the alleged 1MDB scandal is still unfolding.

The Attorney-General Department is reported to have set up a task force comprising the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Auditor-General’s Department to investigate all reports and complains pertaining to 1MDB.

I would like to recommend that officers assigned to the task force watch the above movie and learn from our own investigation of the BMF scandal.

The Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Bank Bumiputera collapsed due largely to its incestuous relationship with Hong Kong-based Singaporean civil engineer, George Tan Soon Gin.

Like today’s 1MDB that sent out huge sums of locally obtained funds to be parked in the Cayman Islands, Bank Bumiputera sent its locally-generated funds to Hong Kong to bankroll the high-flying Tan.

Tan’s Carrian Group borrowed heavily from BMF and soon defaulted. Bank Bumiputera sent one of its auditors, Jalil Ibrahim, to Hong Kong to take charge and he was brutally murdered. The scandal eventually led to the bankruptcy and break-up of Bank Bumiputera.

While Tan was seen by many as the man who brought down BMF and Bank Bumiputera, the allegations against 1MDB are centred around a Penang-born corporate highflier, Jho Taek Low, better known as Jho Low. The mysterious overseas-based Jho Low is the son of Penang businessman Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng.

So if BMF/Bank Bumiputera had George Tan, 1MDB has Jho Low.

The collapse of the BMF saw at least three senior executives of the Bank Bumiputera Group– all of them Malays - being sent to jail while Tan went scot-free. No case to answer, declared English judge, Dennis Barker, after one and a half years trial. Then Hong Kong was a British colony. A Klang businessman, Man Fook Than was convicted of Jalil’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.

An investigation by a three-member team led by then Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin unveiled financial fraud, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. Other members were Chooi Mun Shou and Ramli Ibrahim.

PM High On the List

Having made a promise to the effect that no stone will be left unturned and the guilty will face the full weight of the law, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak must now prove that he is a man of his words.

He must ensure that the task force carries out its duty transparently and independently. The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, when asked by the press if the Prime Minister would be included in the investigation, Khalid replied, yes. If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he will happily cooperate with the investigators.

For the task force, the first order of business is to ensure that evidence of criminal wrongdoings is preserved. It has to stop evidence from being erased or shredded and witnesses from disappearing.

With some key witnesses and possible suspects in the 1MBD investigation residing abroad, including Jho Low, the task force should seek the assistance of Interpol to track them down.

The rakyat and their elected representatives must step up the pressure to ensure that the task force carries out its mandate transparently and freely. Never mind if the 160-Umno divisional leaders, who attended the red shirt solidarity day on March 8 at the PWTC, believed unequivocally in their president’s explanation of 1MDB.

Wallahualam.

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* This article is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Astro AWANI.