PETALING JAYA: Another player in the 1MDB scandal has had his properties seized.
The Sarawak Report (SR) wrote today that French authorities had zoomed in on the properties of Emirati businessman Khadem Al Qubaisi, who is the former chairman of Aabar Investments PJS (AIP) and managing director of Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), who has close dealings with Jho Low.
The properties that were seized included a country house worth €11 million (RM52.3 million); a luxury villa in Ramatuelle, France, worth €7.9 million; an apartment in Avenue Montaigne, Paris, worth €4.4 million and another property near the Champ de Mars in Paris worth €4.6 million.
SR reported that Khadem was a regular in the high-class areas of Cote d’Azur around Saint-Tropez, France, which he frequented for leisure as well as conduct business.
One of his dealings that caught the attention of the French authorities was with the infamous Jho Low who is the main player in the 1MDB scandal.
Low is said to have met Al Qubaisi on more than one occasion in Saint-Tropez to discuss deals related to the 1MDB scandal.
The two men would secretly meet up to discuss plans for the 1MDB fund.
The report said it had revealed the details of the properties three years ago and they were under the directorships of Al Qubaisi’s bank manager, Marc Amboisien, who acted privately for a number of the Emirati’s businesses.
SR had revealed that kickbacks of more than half a billion dollars had been transferred into the businessman’s bank account during the course of 2012 to 2013.
Those kickbacks are linked to the corrupt guarantees arranged by Al Qubaisi on behalf of Low, as part of the US$6.5 billion bond deals raised for the Malaysian development fund by Goldman Sachs.
Last month, Al Qubaisi’s former employers, IPIC and AIP, sued Goldman Sachs; seeking unspecified damages. They claimed that they had suffered losses due to Goldman Sach’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal by paying bribes to Al Qubaisi and former Aabar Investments CEO Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.