PETALING JAYA, Nov 8 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today took a swipe at fugitive businessman Jho Low for snubbing an arrest warrant and claiming he would not receive a fair trial.
In a press conference here, the Langkawi MP said that the once flamboyant tycoon, who is now implicated in investigations on state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), felt that way perhaps because of guilt.
“Must be because he knows he is guilty. So when he is guilty, he says his trial is not fair,” said Dr Mahathir.
“But Malaysian judges are quite fair. So I think that we all have appeared in courts, and we can’t keep on dismissing the judges, or getting another judge for ourselves.
“We have to accept that the institution of the judiciary is not being interfered with by this government,” he added.
Jho Low, whose real name is Low Taek Jho, had last week, again refused to surrender to Malaysian authorities over the 1MDB corruption case, after a court here issued a warrant of arrest for him.
Low’s representative said the case against the Penang-born businessman was meant to hide failures by Dr Mahathir’s administration in current issues, showed disregard for rule of law, and misinterpreted the Federal Constitution.
“Mr Low maintains his innocence. As has been previously stated, Mr Low will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and there is no independent legal process.
“It is clear that Mr Low cannot get a fair trial in Malaysia, where the regime has proven numerous times that they have no interest in the rule of law,” Low’s attorneys added.
National newswire Bernama reported that the magistrate’s court had on December 4, issued arrest warrants for Low and four others, to assist investigations in the 1MDB financial scandal.
