KUALA LUMPUR: Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, sought by the authorities for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial saga, has maintained that he will not stand trial in Malaysia.
His statement comes after the Attorney General’s Chambers on Monday announced that it had filed criminal charges against Low and several others over the issue.
Low, via a spokesman, was quoted by a news portal as having issued a statement in which he maintained that he was not guilty.
"As has been stated previously, Low will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and there is no independent legal process.
"It is clear that Low cannot get a fair trial in Malaysia, where the regime has proven numerous times that they have no interest in the rule of law," read the statement.
The statement was released via Australia-based Wells Haslem Mayhew Strategic Public Affairs.
Low’s statement echoed the one he issued on Dec 4, in which he said the charges were intended to create another false sense of security for the “political loss that the Mahathir regime has brought upon itself” due to its failures on current issues; disregard for the rule of law; and intentional misinterpretation of the Constitution.
In that statement, Low said he would not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been “predetermined by politics and there is no independent legal process.”
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas had on Monday announced that he had filed criminal charges against subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs investment bank and its key employees, together with former employee of 1MDB, Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and Low, better known as Jho Low, over the sale of 1MDB bonds totaling USD6.5 billion, which contravened Malaysia’s securities laws.
Thomas in his media statement said the offences framed on them including the bank employees, Tim Leissner and Roger Ng Chong Hwa, were under the securities laws of Malaysia.
Thomas also said Ng will be charged shortly.