A tweet from Tom Wright, co-author of Billion Dollar Whale, concerning the Thai government’s protection of Malaysian fugitive financier Low Taek Jho has gone viral, with many netizens thanking Mr Wright for exposing the Thai government’s corruption and abuse.
The 2018 book is about the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal expose as well the involvement of Mr Low, commonly known as Jho Low, as the central figure at the heart of the scandal. It was written by Mr Wright and Bradley Hope, who are both journalists with The Wall Street Journal.
Of course Thailand’s government protected Jho Low and had Xavier Justi arrested. #1MDB See Billion Dollar Whale: pic.twitter.com/lwaNdMfvxI
— Tom Wright (@TomWrightAsia) February 23, 2020
On Sunday, February 23, Mr Wright tweeted, “Of course Thailand’s government protected Jho Low and had Xavier Justo arrested. #1MDB See Billion Dollar Whale:” accompanied by a photo of a page from the epilogue of the book, which had a highlighted portion that read.
“Thailand, ruled by a military junta, was a safe harbor for Low. China, meanwhile, saw him as a strategic asset—a pawn who gave Beijing influence over Najib. He still had access to copious amounts of cash. It was a comfortable existence, if isolated.”
Mr Wright added to this original tweet two more:
“Couple facts on Low/Thailand: 1) Low has made payments through a Thai friend, Phengphian Laogumnerd; 2) Low’s father was born in Hat Yai (Teochow Chinese); 3) The family own or owned a stake in the Korean mall in Bangkok; 4) Low lived in St Regis. See Billion Dollar Whale. #1MDB
5) He partied while on the run in Avani Riverside in Bangkok, with Nicole Scherzinger and Swizz Beatz; 6) He was able to get Thai police to arrest Xavier Justo, a whistleblower on his scheme, and get access to Thai jail. #1mdb See Billion Dollar Whale: https://amazon.com/gp/aw/d/031643647X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
His original tweet has since gone on to be retweeted almost 16,000 times and liked over 3,800 times, with netizens, many of whom who seem to be from Thailand, expressing their appreciation for the exposure of the Thai government’s abuse and corruption.
Mr Wright also tweeted early on Monday morning (Feb 24) a link to a 2018 article in The Guardian explaining why Billion Dollar Whale had not been made available in Thailand, as well as in other countries, at the time of its publication, since apparently Thais had asked why the book had not been sold in their country.
Thais have been asking why Billion Dollar Whale (#1mdb) was not available in Thailand. Jho Low threatened bookstores, and distributors in Thailand refused to take it, but now I hear it’s available in Asia Books and elsewhere. Or try Amazon or here: https://t.co/zcyLtqvFTM
— Tom Wright (@TomWrightAsia) February 23, 2020
According to the Guardian article,
“However, Billion Dollar Whale has been effectively blocked from distribution in the UK after a sustained legal campaign by Low’s London-based law firm Schillings. Although Low has not apparently commenced legal action against the book’s publisher Hachette, or its authors, the Guardian has seen letters on Schillings-headed paper that have been sent to independent bookstores in Britain and around the world in an apparent bid to stop it being available for public purchase.
The letters sent to bookstores state that the decision by some to publish a synopsis of the book constituted an actionable libel of Low. Schillings wrote to one bookseller to say it was ‘astonishing’ that the shop had published a description of Billion Dollar Whale on its website, and warned the individual bookseller that it is ‘now on notice that serious defamatory material is likely to be contained in the subject book’.
‘It is troubling to us to hear reports of booksellers being threatened or attempts to keep the public from reading a book,’ said a spokesperson for the book’s US publishers Hachette. ‘Hope and Wright are journalists of the highest calibre and we stand by the book. It will be available in bookstores – in many countries – on Tuesday.’
The authors claimed that Low and his law firm did not cooperate with the book and instead were ‘threatening small bookshops and distributors, which is an affront to freedom of speech’.”
-TISG