Whale Hunting’s editor claims Jho Low not hiding Macau, but under house arrest in Shanghai

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Whale Hunting editor Bradley Hope said that fugitive broker Low Taek Jho, also called Jho Low, is under house arrest in Shanghai, China despite the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirmed the latter was hiding in Macau.

Hope said that Jho Low was in Macau, Hong Hong, Shenzhen and Thailand a lot from 2015 to 2018.

“However, after former Malaysia’s prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak electoral defeat, his (Jho Low) movements were more restricted to the mainland. We at @WhaleHunting_ believe he’s under house arrest in Shanghai,” he wrote in his Twitter posting.

Hope also said that China is holding Jho Low on a tight leash not only because of negotiations with Malaysia but also because his patrons in the spy services (Sun Lijun) are arrested and business partners at China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) were ousted.

“He went from an intelligence asset to a liability after Najib was voted out,” he said.

Hope also pointed out that Jho Low and others including Eric Tan all have wives and children now and have been constant companions for years.

“Only Jasmine Loo Ai Swan appears to have broken from the group,” he added.

Hope also left a question for the Malaysian government in his Twitter posting: “What crime in your legal code for a prime minister conspiring with a foreign power to sacrifice national interest or sovereignty and overpay contracts using state money in exchange for covering up a massive fraud?”.

Yesterday, Al Jazeera cited the anti-graft commission saying that it “believes the individuals wanted for the 1MDB case, especially Jho Low, are hiding in Macau”

Al Jazeera reported that MACC's remark came weeks after the arrest of Kee Kok Thiam — one of the suspects in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal — after he was deported from Macau for allegedly overstaying his visa.

Kee had reportedly confirmed to MACC that he met Low and fellow 1MDB fugitives and suspects Eric Tan Kim Loong, Casey Tang Keng Chee, Geh Choh Heng and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil in Macau.

On May 5, Malay Mail reported that an unnamed suspect was brought back with the cooperation of enforcement agencies from abroad, and arrived at KLIA's Terminal 2 on May 3 at 3.30am. This is now believed to be Kee.

Upon arrival, he was given notice of an order to be present at the MACC's headquarters in Putrajaya at 10am on May 3, with MACC then recording his statement and searching his house on the same day.

According to sources, the man was suspected of having received money originating from funds misappropriated from 1MDB and SRC through the bank account of a company known as Wright Shaw Limited.

However, a MACC source revealed that Kee has died.

The source did so when asked to verify an obituary for Kee, a former associate of Low’s who had been deported from Macau less than a month ago.

A senior official from the commission also confirmed receiving news of Kee’s death, adding that the latter had been released after being questioned by the commission.

It is believed that Kee died of sudden illness.

The MACC had previously with the cooperation of the Singapore police's Commercial Affairs Department succeeded in seizing Wright Shaw Limited's bank account containing funds of around US$5.2 million (RM24 million).

Investigations show that the man had received money originating from 1MDB's misappropriated funds through Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M).

Malaysian authorities had also sought information in the past on Low's parents, his associates, and former 1MDB officials such as Jasmine Loo.