KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 ― Fugitive financier Low Taek Jho today maintained his innocence after being hit with multiple counts of bribery and conspiring to embezzle and launder billions of dollars of funds from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in a US federal court yesterday.
A Sydney-based public relations firm representing an unnamed spokesman for the Penang-born better known as Jho Low issued a media statement telling the public that he is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“As noted in the indictment today, Mr Low held no formal position at 1MDB, nor was he ever employed by Goldman Sachs, or the Governments of Malaysia or Abu Dhabi.
“Furthermore, the bond offerings detailed in the indictment were undertaken openly and lawfully between experienced, well-regulated financial institutions and government entities,” Benjamin Haslem, co-CEO of the Wells Haslem Mayhew Strategic Public Affairs, said in the statement that was also posted on Low’s website.
Charges were filed against Low and another Malaysian Roger Ng Chong Hwa in New York yesterday.
Both men were charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB, and conspiring to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to various Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.
Ng was formerly a banker with Goldman Sachs. He was reportedly arrested by Malaysian police yesterday and is due to be presented to court today.
Charges under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act have also been filed against Jho Low and his father Tan Sri Larry Low at the Sessions Court in Putrajaya last August, relating to the movement of several hundred million US dollars in the BSI Bank in Singapore.
The Lows remain at large.
* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
