KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — China could offer to repatriate fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho to Malaysia, according to Bradley Hope, one of the co-authors of the Billion Dollar Whale book about the 1MDB corruption scandal.
Hope made the claim on the website he and co-author Tom Wright built on their reporting about Low, better known as Jho Low.
“Today, we heard from multiple sources that such an arrangement is being hotly debated inside the Malaysian government in the wake of PM Anwar Ibrahim's trip to China in March,” Hope wrote.
“During that trip, Anwar met high-level government officials as well as representatives of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).”
The former Wall Street Journal writer alleged the deal would include absolving China of its alleged complicity in the 1MDB cover-up and previous support for disgraced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, among others.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made his first official trip to China as the prime minister of Malaysia at the end of last month.
Low has been portrayed as a central figure in the 1MDB saga but has denied masterminding the globe-spanning corruption scandal that defrauded Malaysia of billions of dollars.
Last month, Kuwait sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment after convicting him in absentia with two others of embezzling 1MDB funds.
In Malaysia, Najib has already been found guilty and imprisoned for misappropriating funds from a former 1MDB unit, and was still on trial in the main case over the scandal.
