Jho Low charged over US$1b received by Good Star

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 5): Their whereabouts may not be known, but Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and four of his closest Malaysian associates were slapped in absentia with criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering charges involving US$1.3 billion (RM5.4 billion) yesterday by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Prosecutors also obtained arrest warrants for the five fugitives from the court, which means Malaysia will be asking for Interpol’s help to find and arrest them.

Besides Jho Low, three of those charged have worked at 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). They are former executive director of finance Terence Geh Choh Heng, former executive director of business development Casey Tang Keng Chee and former legal counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.

The fifth person charged is Eric Tan Kim Loong, an associate who is the beneficial owner of several overseas bank accounts through which billions of dollars from 1MDB was laundered and flowed to bank accounts of several people, including the infamous US$620 million that went to the account of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2013.

Details of the charges are as follows:

Jho Low, 37, charged with five money laundering offences totalling US$1.03 billion:

1. On Sept 30, 2009, US$700 million was banked into Good Star Ltd’s RBS Coutts Bank account (11116073) in Zurich from 1MDB’s account (26431700000719) at RHB Bank Bhd in Kuala Lumpur. (This money was supposed to be for the joint venture with PetroSaudi International).
2. On May 20, 2011, US$30 million was banked into Good Star Ltd’s RBS Coutts Bank account (11116073) in Zurich from 1MDB’s account (2112022007045) at Ambank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.
3. On May 23, 2011, US$65 million was banked into Good Star Ltd’s RBS Coutts Bank account (11116073) in Zurich from 1MDB’s account (2112022007045) at Ambank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.
4. On May 27, 2011, US$110 million was banked into Good Star Ltd’s RBS Coutts Bank account (11116073) in Zurich from 1MDB’s account (2112022007045) at Ambank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.
5. On Oct 25, 2011, US$125 million was banked into Good Star Ltd’s RBS Coutts Bank account (11116073) in Zurich from 1MDB’s account (2112022007045) at Ambank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

Jho Low and Tan, 40, jointly charged with two money laundering offences totalling US$126 million:

1. On May, 2009, they together received US$113.426 million at RBS Coutts Bank account (38022793) in Singapore belonging to Acme Time Ltd from an account (1554010068) at AmBank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.
2. On July 13, 2009, they together received US$12.555 million at RBS Coutts Bank account (38022793) in Singapore belonging to Acme Time Ltd from an account (1554010068) at AmBank (M) Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

Geh, 47, charged with US$125 million CBT:

1. That on or about Oct 25, 2011 as the executive director of finance of 1MDB, he committed breach of trust amounting to US$125 million.

Tang, 53, charged with CBT and money laundering:

1. That on or about Sept 30, 2009 as the executive director of business development he committed CBT involving US$700 million.
2. On Aug 5, 2009, he received US$1.7 million into a RBS Coutts Bank account (1116452) in Zurich from Acme Time Ltd’s account (38022793) at RBS Coutts Singapore.
3. On Dec 23, 2010, he received US$5 million into a bank account (A129573) at BSI Bank in Switzerland belonging to Totality Ltd from the account (1379014422) of Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

Loo, 45, charged with two money laundering offences:

1. On Dec 6, 2012, she received US$5 million into an account (2450460) of River Dee International (BVI) at Falcon Private Bank in Zurich from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partner’s account (0170260666) at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.
2. On July 1, 2014, she received US$999,975 into the account of River Dee from Affinity Equity International Partners Ltd’s account (0003015871018022) at DBS Bank in Singapore.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Dec 5, 2018.

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