KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Andre Xavier Justo has dismissed labels such as “hero” or “villain” when it comes to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, saying they do not affect him.

In an interview with The Star, the former Petrosaudi International executive who was convicted and pardoned in Thailand for attempted blackmail related to 1MDB said Malaysians are the true heroes of the tale.

“Honestly, I don’t care... I don’t need this. It happened,” he told The Star.

“The real heroes are the people of Malaysia who voted for Dr Mahathir, that made history,” he added, referring to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“I’m a small part of what happened. The people who voted... those people living here, they took risks. Those are heroes. I’m not.”

Justo was arrested, tried and convicted in Thailand for attempting to blackmail Petrosaudi over a stolen cache of documents in 2015.

He had also been a key player in the early days of the 1MDB scandal, when he sought to sell the same cache to a local news organisation whose subsequent reports based on the documents caused it to be suspended by the Home Ministry.

Petrosaudi and 1MDB entered an abortive joint venture in 2012 for which the Malaysian firm still paid the former US$700 million (RM2.7 billion). Justo’s documents, which he tried to sell for US$2 million to the Malaysian outfit, were believed to be linked to that deal.

He was granted a royal pardon in conjunction with late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 70 years on the throne and Queen Sirikit’s birthday in 2016.

Justo insisted today that he never stole anything, and he had left the company after “a fight” with one of the firm’s founders, Tarek Obaid.

“I left the company because of a fight with Mr Obaid. So I left. I got those documents [legally]. I have to insist on this point because it’s only in Asia that when I read an article about me, it still says ‘the man that stole the data’.

“Those files were given to me, so I never stole anything,” he said.

Justo said he is willing to testify in any trial involving the strategic fund.

“Whatever I can do for justice, whatever I can do to aid your country to recover the money that was stolen — I will,” said Justo.