KUALA LUMPUR: Well-known senior government officials during the tenure of Datuk Seri Najib Razak were the whistleblowers in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist Tom Wright said that these officials were household names who risked great personal danger to share documents related to 1MDB with the United States-based daily.
“The people (senior government officials) put their trust in me for this book, and did so with great danger to themselves. If I were to talk about it in general terms, it would give an idea of (their identities).
“They are very senior government officials. I’m talking about bold faced names, not taking about mere bureaucrats but they are household names.
“They knew what was going on and that it wouldn’t see the light of day. That’s how we (WSJ) got a lot documents of this at the initial stage.
“Now we have interaction with the government of today (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led administration), on what’s going on and how to get Jho Low back.
“That interesting situation that has not been resolved yet. That’s going to be for the paperback,” he said.
He was responding to Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Kian Ming, during the launch of the book Billion Dollar Whale at Kinokuniya bookstore in Suria KLCC.
Ong had wanted to know who were the government officials who blew the lid off the 1MDB scandal, to which Wright declined to reveal the names.
Penned by Wright and fellow WSJ journalist Bradley Hope, the non-fiction work Billion Dollar Whale was sold out in bookstores nationwide since two weeks ago.
However, the sold-out status of the book did not deter a large crowd from attending the launch, which saw a long queue of readers holding a copy of the book to be signed by Wright.
Tension temporarily filled the crowded event when Isham Jalil, who used to be a special officer for Najib when he was prime minister, demanded Wright show evidence implicating Najib in the whole affair.
Wright replied that a lot of the reporting of the book was the result of ongoing investigations on the matter in the US and Singapore, among others.
However, a clearly dissatisfied Isham cut Wright off, saying it was not the answer the former was seeking.
“That is not what I am asking. I want to see evidence that can implicate him (Najib) directly because you talk about Jho Low a lot in the book. Is there evidence to implicate (Najib)?”
Isham was referring to businessman Low Taek Jho, who is wanted by Malaysian authorities probing the 1MDB matter.
When Wright said that he personally thinks there is evidence that would be unveiled in upcoming court cases, Isham again cut the journalist off and demanded whether there was such evidence.
“I am not a prosecutor, my friend,” said Wright calmly, then took questions from other members of the audience to diffuse the situation.
Also present were former international trade and industry minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Damansara member of parliament Tony Pua Kiam Wee, and former Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk S. Ambiga. — Reports by Hidir Reduan Abdul Rashid, Fahmy Azril Rosli and Tasnim Lokman