Still wanted in Singapore: Police say red notice for Jho Low still in effect despite pardon appeal to Trump

SINGAPORE: Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, is still wanted in Singapore, the city-state’s police have said. This comes amid the recent report that the businessman, more commonly known as Jho Low, asked for a pardon from United States President Donald Trump last month.

Arrest warrants for Low, who has been on the run over the past decade, remain active in Singapore, according to reporting from Bloomberg. 

“Warrants of arrest and Interpol red notices for both Tan Kim Loong and Low Taek Jho are still in effect,” the report quoted the Singapore Police Force as having said in a statement on Wednesday (June 10).

Tan, a close associate of Low, is another key figure in the 1MDB scandal, which began to be exposed in the Malaysian and international press in 2015, and has been called one of the biggest financial scandals in the world.

In 2016, it was called the “largest kleptocracy case to date” by the United States Department of Justice. According to Malaysian and US authorities, a total of US$4.5 billion (approximately S$6 billion) was siphoned out of 1MDB between 2009 and 2014.

Low has maintained his innocence, telling The Straits Times in a 2020 interview via email that he had merely been the fall guy and that other parties in the scam played greater roles. 

The fugitive financier debunked the portrayal of himself as 1MDB’s “mastermind,” since he had never held any decision-making role at 1MDB or SRC. Instead, he claimed that his assistance was asked for due to his connections with “influential foreign businessmen and decision-makers.”

Low added that the decision-making responsibilities for 1MDB had been on the shoulders of “management, board and shareholders” who, in turn, had been advised by “international bankers, lawyers and other independent professionals.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Low had filed a request for pardon with the US Department of Justice and that he and his lawyers have endeavoured over the past year to clear his name.

On May 26, however, the Justice Department announced that it had obtained a forfeiture order for a luxury flat in New York that had been bought with funds misappropriated from 1MDB. /TISG

Read also: Malaysia recovers another RM39.1 million linked to Jho Low in ongoing 1MDB asset repatriation