KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain today declined to speak about the recent arrest of former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) lawyer Jasmine Loo Ai Swan amid renewed public interest in the investigations.
He only told reporters that she was arrested in Malaysia when she turned herself in to police while accompanied by a lawyer.
“We don’t want to speak about the arrest because we worry about the danger to her, regardless of whether she is a witness or a suspect,” he said in a news conference at Bukit Aman that was also livestreamed on the official police Facebook account.
He said that the police were well acquainted with danger as enforcement authorities.
He also dismissed questions related to whether she had been arrested outside of Malaysia.
“She came here with her lawyer so we (arrested) her here,” he said.
Yesterday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced Loo’s arrest, saying that she had been arrested last Friday and remanded at the Dang Wangi police station the next day.
She is being investigated under Section 409 of the Penal Code, he said.
Section 409 of the Penal Code governs the criminal breach of trust by public servant or agent, which is punished with imprisonment of two to 20 years, whipping and a fine.
In January, national news agency Bernama reported a decision by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur in which two luxury cars and cash of RM22,600 belonging to Loo would be forfeited to the government.
She is said to be a close associate of fugitive Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, who is believed to have masterminded the 1MDB scandal which also involved former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Malaysian authorities have sought information on her as well as other former 1MDB officials and those associated with the scandal.
