KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Fugitive tycoon Low Taek Jho has questioned Putrajaya for its interest in a three-storey house in Tanjung Bungah Park in Penang, owned by his mother.
According to broker also known as Jho Low, the government has never been interested in the property for the last two decades since it was completed, claiming it is unconnected to any of the allegations towards himself.
“The Low family property was built and completed around twenty years ago, during Mahathir’s previous administration.
“This was more than a decade before 1MDB ever existed and at that time Mr Low was still a teenager,” Low’s spokesman said through his lawyers in a statement.
1MDB started out as the Terengganu Investment Authority in 2008, before converted by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak the year after.
Federal police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Mazlan Mansor has confirmed the seizure to Malay Mail earlier today.
Mazlan confirmed that officers from the Bukit Aman’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Prevention (AMLA) division went to the RM15-million house and issue a notice of seizure from the Attorney General’s Chambers, under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
The notice which was plastered on the wall of the house reads: “It’s hereby ordered that such immovable property be seized by the investigating officer and all dealings in respect of such immovable property are prohibited. Take notice that failure to comply with this notice is an offence under the Act”.
“Media reports allege that a seizure notice was left outside the home of Mr Low’s family,” said the spokesman.
“The public manner in which this alleged notice was posted and disseminated to the media is yet another example of the Mahathir regime’s ‘trial by media’.”
Low, a 37-year-old Penangite otherwise known as Jho Low, is a key figure wanted over his role in an alleged scheme to defraud the Malaysian government of millions of dollars, possibly billions, through 1MDB dealings.
Back in January, Bukit Aman said it is seeking the public’s help to track down fugitive businessman Low’s parents to assist in investigations over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal in relation to money-laundering offences.
