MALAYSIA has enlisted the help of Interpol to track down financier Low Taek Jho, who has been identified as the central figure in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

He was responding to a question from Gombak MP Mohamed Azmin Ali of PKR in Parliament this morning.

Azmin had asked Zahid if Interpol was helping to track down Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, whom US investigators have called the mastermind behind a scheme to siphon money from state investor 1MDB.

Low is a Malaysian financier and the beneficiary of numerous discretionary trust assets that US prosecutors allege were obtained from 1MDB funds.

His whereabouts are unknown.

In an oral reply today, Zahid said Interpol had yet to return feedback to Malaysia on the matter.

“We have asked Interpol for help to find the person mentioned by MP Gombak and at the moment the police have not receive any detailed  information on the said person(Jho Low). For your information, our cooperation with Interpol has been very tight. We are confident that Interpol is doing its professional best.

“We are also confident in the efforts of several international intelligence agencies (to investigate the matter) and they have been concluded. We are confident that the case is no longer relevant and is only brought up by politicians who are never satisfied when it comes to the the case (of 1MDB),” said Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister.

The question of Low’s whereabouts was raised in in 2015.

The Home Ministry had said then in a written reply that it had been unsuccessful locating those wanted for questioning to facilitate investigations into 1MDB, including business tycoon Jho Low.

The ministry said Interpol had been unable to  determine the whereabouts of Low and others linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Others sought for questioning are former 1MDB senior executives Casey Tang Keng Chee and Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, SRC International managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, and Deutsche Bank country manager Yusof Annuar Yaacob.

Tang and Loo are wanted by Bank Negara Malaysia to “assist in investigations under the Exchange Control Act 1953”.

Nik Faisal is wanted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as a key witness to the agency’s investigation into former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International.

Jho Low, a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak, was also been called to appear before the MACC.

Yusof was previously chairman and managing director of he Goldman Sachs Malaysia, the investment banking, securities and investment management firm that sold 1MDB’s bonds in 2012-2013 

Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen had asked the Home Ninistry to state the whereabouts of the above five individuals .

“An Interpol unit attached to the Royal Malaysian Police is unable to locate and determine where these individuals are at this moment considering the fact that no police investigation is currently being carried out on them, nor has there been any request made by any party seeking Interpol’s assistance in locating them,” said ministry said in its written reply. – October 23, 2017.