Police should arrest business tycoon Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and freeze his assets to assist with investigations into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) said an opposition leader today.
DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar needs to get foreign authorities to freeze Low's assets to ensure that money alleged to have been siphoned out of 1MDB does not disappear.
"We call upon the IGP to not only to arrest Jho Low to assist with investigations (into 1MDB).
"(The IGP) should start the process to seek his international counterparts to freeze all Jho Low’s assets and banking accounts to ensure that no more of the money which were (allegedly) fraudulently embezzled from 1MDB gets frittered away," Pua said in a statement.
He added it is baffling why police have not yet questioned Low, when the force had shown such efficiency when probing things like Twitter postings.
"Malaysians are completely bewildered as to why the IGP appears rooted to the spot when investigating and taking action against the perpetrators of the heist of the century.
"The evidence trails have already been carefully laid out for the police force, and yet, after months since the exposés, no concrete steps have been taken to try to put these robbers behind bars.
"The police for example, hasn’t even questioned Jho Low ( left ). This is despite the IGP being ruthlessly efficient when investigating other inanities like 'royal my foot'." Pua said referring to an angry tweet he made in March criticising the police.
Whistleblower website Sarawak Report has published a series of exposes accusing Low of embezzling money from state investment arm 1MDB, including siphoning over US$1 billion from funds meant for joint venture company 1MDB PetroSaudi Limited.
The 34-year-old has however vehemently denied his role in the scandal. He claimed that although 1MDB had sought his advice on certain matters, he had never profited from it and has no official role in the firm.
Low said his only links with the company was that he had helped set up TIA - 1MDB's predecessor.
He has also accused Umno spin masters of orchestrating the scandal.
