Putrajaya said inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has been assigned to talk to Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo in Bangkok over claims that the latter met Malaysian opposition figures.

According to Bernama , this was revealed by Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

However, Wan Junaidi said the police would first have to obtain permission from their Thai counterparts to do so.

Wan Junaidi said the move was necessary in order to obtain "first-hand information", following the revelation by Thai police that Justo had met about 10 Malaysians in an attempt to sell information about his former employers.

According to Thai police, Justo had admitted to meeting these individuals - which includes Malaysian opposition figures, a media tycoon, a British reporter and a man belonging to the same party as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak - in Thailand and Singapore.

The purpose of the meet was purportedly for Justo to hawk documents stolen from PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI), a company which was once in a joint-venture with 1MDB.

In 2009, 1MDB had invested US$1 billion in the JV. This was 1MDB's first investment and remains highly controversial until this day.

According to a report, two 1MDB directors had quit in a huff after US$700 million was diverted to another company, instead of the JV vehicle.

London-based whistleblower website Sarawak Report had published leaked email correspondences which led the news organisation to believe that the US$700 million went into account of a company owned by Jho Low, a known Najib associate.

Neither Low nor PSI has denied that this happened.

Justo was arrested in Thailand on June 22 on charges of blackmailing PSI with threats to leak confidential company documents. Thai law allows for the police to detain him for up to 84 days.

Malaysian authorities claim that Justo had peddled "tampered" documents to Sarawak Report , among others, with the purpose of causing Najib and 1MDB disrepute.