1MALAYSIA Development Bhd (1MDB) whistleblower Xavier Andre Justo and his family have left Malaysia to go home to Switzerland.

In an emotional Facebook post, Justo said he couldn’t afford to put his loved ones at risk of suffering again if things were to go wrong.

“To all our Malaysian friends. With a great sadness and with our hearts broken we had to leave your beautiful country!

“We as a family have suffered a lot and I couldn’t take the risk of making the people I love the most suffer again, in case things went wrong.”

“We are now back and safe in Switzerland but our hearts and souls are with all of you!” he said. 

He said he had to ensure that his children were brought up in an environment the rule of law and morality applied so that they grew up to be good people with good values.

As for the change of government in Malaysia, he said that it was not not the end.

“The end will be the day we will surrender and forget our principles, but this will never happen!,” the former PetroSaudi International employee said.

He said the family was convinced that Malaysia will soon wake up to put in place a duly elected democratic government.

“We would like to thank the people that helped us during this last year in Malaysia and those who made sure we left without problems.

“There are so many of you that we can’t thank you all. But you know who you are and you know what special place you have in our hearts!

“We will miss Malaysia deeply, but if God allows we will be back soon. May God bless you all,” he added.

The Swiss national was sentenced to three years’ jail in Thailand in 2015 on charges of blackmailing PetroSaudi, after he exposed the company’s irregular dealings.

Justo later received a royal pardon, however, which commuted his sentence by a third and saw him released after 18 months in prison.

The information he shared exposed had triggered investigations into 1MDB in multiple countries.

He had shared with the media a hard disk containing 230,000 emails with information on deals between 1MDB and PetroSaudi, after resigning from the company following a fallout with the director Tarek Obaid.

PetroSaudi International is the company to which billions of ringgit were allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB.

Former prime minister Najib Razak is currently on trial for charges related to the defrauding of 1MDB. – March 5, 2020.