Task force must haul in Jho Low, now!

Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee

We are waiting from early March. And there is not even a whimper on the investigations by the task force, which was set up to investigate 1MDB.

There is one name that keeps popping up when the issue of alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the state development fund is discussed.

And that name is none other than Low Taek Jho, a self-styled flamboyant billionaire.

The task force, which is trailing at a snail's pace, has not called him in for questioning. And we are clueless as to whether they ever will.

Jho Low has repeatedly denied any involvement in 1MDB. But according to the Sarawak Report and news articles, billions of dollars of 1MDB funds was deposited to the bank account of a company controlled by Jho Low.

He has amassed huge wealth and assets and even bought two luxury apartments in Singapore valued at 145.2 million ringgit in 2013, local news website The Malaysian Insider reports.

Jho Low is right smack in the middle of the 1MDB financial mess. Borrowings and loans by the investment body is dubious and point to him as the crafty beneficiary.

For example, reports show that a 1.18 billion ringgit loan 1Malaysia Development Berhad had issued to PetroSaudi International in 2011 was actually deposited into the account of Good Star Limited, a firm controlled by none other than Jho Low.

The Sarawak Report says the money was transferred in four separate tranches into Good Star Limited’s RBS Coutts, Zurich account.

The plot thickens as the report also revealed that approval had only been granted by the regulators for 1MDB to lend the money to its former joint venture partner, PetroSaudi, on the basis that it was to “finance on-going overseas investment in the oil and gas sector”.

According to the whistleblower website's calculations, close to 1.19 billion dollars of the 1.93 billion dollars that 1MDB lent to PetroSaudi ultimately went to Jho Low's company.

It's clear from these explosive articles that Jho Low has managed to siphon off a huge sum of money into his company.

So why hasn't the task force hauled up Jho Low for investigations? What is the delay?

The rakyat are waiting for answers. And so am I. In sharp contrast Jho Low has ticked off UMNO Youth and is nonchalantly going about his usual business.

We cannot tolerate any more delays from the task force. It's imminent that Jho Low is investigated immediately as the money funneled away was meant for the development of the country and its people.

YAB DS Najib Razak has also asked for immediate investigations into the alleged financial misappropriation of the 1MDB fund.

Therefore it's only fair that Jho Low and everyone who are privy to the route the funds had traveled face the anti-corruption commission, the police and the Attorney-General's Chambers.