A DAP lawmaker today accused the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) of making false assertions about elusive businessman Low Taek Jho and his link to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), despite having the evidence that proved otherwise. 

Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara), said a letter from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) dated April 6, 2016, confirmed Low as the owner of Good Star Limited, a company which received US$1.03 billion (RM4.2 billion) from 1MDB.

The letter, he said, is also in the possession of the police.

“Is the IGP sleeping? Who is he protecting? Why is the IGP refusing to investigate the 1MDB scandal? Is the IGP claiming that BNM concocted the evidence (BNM letter)?

“By failing to investigate 1MDB and lying through his teeth to protect those who have robbed the people, Mohamad Fuzi Harun will go down in history as the worst IGP Malaysia has ever had,” Tony said during a press conference at the Parliament building. 

He showed copies of the BNM letter to the media, saying the letter was first highlighted by The Wall Street Journal. 

He also reiterated that PAC chairman Hasan Arifin had refused to share the letter with the committee members, citing confidentiality. 

“This was despite the fact that BNM had specifically written to say that the information contained in the letter was for ‘the purposes of investigations by the PAC’,” he said. 

Pua yesterday said PAC had received a first letter from BNM in April 2016, that confirmed Good Star, which received US$1.03 billion directly from 1MDB, was not a subsidiary of 1MDB’s joint-venture partner, Petrosaudi International Ltd. 

In May 2016, the Finance Ministry, in a written parliamentary reply, said Good Star was owned by Petrosaudi International when it received US$1.03 billion from 1MDB.

The Finance Ministry said based on the investment company’s records, Good Star belonged to the Middle Eastern firm when payments were made in 2009.

In 2016, Pua and other opposition members of PAC claimed that committee chairman Hasan had deleted a sentence stating that Good Star was, instead, owned by “an individual with no links to the Petrosaudi group”.

Last week, Fuzi issued a statement saying that the RM1 billion luxury yacht, The Equanimity, owned by Low, was not impounded because of a civil forfeiture suit to confiscate 1MDB assets. 

He said police investigations into 1MDB, based on PAC’s findings, which were tabled in Parliament in 2016, showed that Jho Low never worked at the state investment fund. The Malaysian Insight has contacted the IGP and is awaiting a response. – March 13, 2018.