KUALA LUMPUR: Fugitive Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, who is being hunted by authorities for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, is said to be still hiding in China and had even partied at a Victoria Secret's event.
These were the claims by Bradley Hope, who co-authored the Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World in the first episode of "Where is Jho Low? The Search for the 1MDB Fraud Mastermind" on YouTube today.
In the episode which featured co-author Tom Wright, Hope said Jho Low was last seen in 2019 and his whereabouts had been unknown since the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
"Many people have talked about seeing him at parties and events in China. I remember there was a Victoria Secret party in China. He showed up and people were shocked that he would dare show his face.
"It was like his world got smaller and smaller.
"After Najib got arrested, it became just China. Within China, there were four main cities that he was spending time in," he said.
A picture of a supposed Jho Low with two unknown people at a restaurant in Shanghai's Disneyland was shown during the broadcast.
Hope said the pictures were dated Dec 24, 2019 and were received from a trusted source.
"Based on the information we obtained, Jho Low is in China. We had also received the picture of him on a holiday in Disneyland, Shanghai.
"We also know that Jho Low is married and has two kids," he said.
Hope had earlier launched a campaign to locate Jho Low by seeking the help of the public as well as the business community and any tip-off can be emailed to projectbrazen@protonmail.com
He described Jho Low as the last piece of puzzle in the 1MDB scandal after the jailing of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak when the Federal Court upheld his conviction recently.
It was alleged that at least US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by Jho Low and other high-level officials of the fund and their associates.
Malaysian police tried to locate and bring him back to the country, however, their efforts are still futile.
He is facing a US$3.78 billion or RM16.82 billion lawsuit filed by 1MDB and four of its subsidiaries.
With Malaysian authorities continuing to search for him, he reportedly offered a settlement but the Attorney-General's Chambers said that it was rejected.
A news report quoting sources had claimed that Jho Low offered RM1.5 billion to the Malaysian government to settle the charges against him.