KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low had used Kuwait as a base to move funds with the aid of a businessman linked to the Kuwaiti royal family, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported today.
Low flew to Kuwait last September, despite an Interpol red notice for his arrest, WSJ reported, citing documents and “people familiar with the matter”.
WSJ reported that Low’s Kuwait connection had provided him the means to fend off investigators in the US and Malaysia pursuing him for his role in the alleged misappropriation involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.
The report said that the Penang-born businessman had turned to the Kuwaiti royals for help as early as 2016, after authorities disclosed his lavish, jet-setting lifestyle, as well as being the person who threw over-the-top parties with VVIP attendees, and the financier for Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
Quoting a French businessman, WSJ reported that Low sought out the son of Kuwait’s prime minister, Sheikh Sabah Al-Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in 2016, whom the former had met years prior, and offered to use his contacts in China to divert investments to oil-rich Kingdom nation.
“I earned billions in Malaysia. I will earn a hundred billion in China, minimum,” the businessman, Bachar Kiwan, who was a business partner of the sheikh then, reportedly told WSJ, quoting Low.
The report said that Kiwan, who currently resides in France, was convicted in absentia in Kuwait with forgery and document falsification, which he has denied; his brother-in-law and brother are both currently imprisoned in Kuwait after being convicted for forgery and people-smuggling charges, respectively, for helping Kiwan flee the country.
Low’s newfound Kuwaiti ties had reportedly got him new backing, business deals and new channels for moving money with Kuwaiti banks handling hundreds of millions of dollars linked to Low’s activities, which include millions in payments to companies in the US and UK, to cover his increasing legal bills, the report said, citing documents and those in the know.
Low had also allegedly used Kiwan’s then company Al Waseet — in which Sheikh Sabah owns a stake, to move 1.4 billion yuan (RM853.6 million).
The report said that Low’s spokespersons had declined to respond, while a representative for Sheikh Sabah “categorically denies any wrongdoing,” accusing Kiwan’s statements as false.
Similarly the Kuwaiti government also did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the Malaysian government. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) also declined to comment on Low’s activities in Kuwait.
WSJ reported Kiwan saying that Low had also brought along executives from China Communications, promising to further the Communist nation’s Belt and Road dreams.
The report said that China Communications did not respond to queries.
WSJ reported that in April 2016, Sheikh Sabah travelled to Shanghai for the signing of an US$8 billion joint real-estate investment fund between Al Waseet and China’s Greenland Holding Group, a state-owned property company.
As part of the deal, entities registered in the Caribbean using “Al Waseet” in their names, would take ownership of Low’s US$200 million stake in the Park Lane Hotel and then transfer it to Greenland Holding and Greenland Hong Kong Holdings, WSJ reported, quoting Kiwan and documents reviewed.
Low allegedly told an associate at that time that the transaction would remove his biggest US-based asset from the DOJ’s grip. However, the plan with Greenland ultimately came to a halt.
In May and June 2016, WSJ reported that a subsidiary of Al Waseet had billed True Dragon Properties Limited; a Hong Kong holding of a unit of China Communications, for 1.4 billion yuan worth of asphalt, which Kiwan’s company didn’t produce or sell.
Low had allegedly planned to use part of the transferred funds to pay his legal bills, which had exceeded US$20 million.
WSJ reported that Sheikh Sabah and Kiwan had confronted Low about the DOJ probe, to which the latter replied; “‘The Chinese had dealt with the silly DOJ investigation,”
Again quoting Kiwan and documents reviewed, WSJ reported that in September 2016, True Dragon wired the Al Waseet subsidiary 1.4 billion yuan to an account at the Kuwait branch of the Chinese state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, or ICBC. Low then reportedly asked Kiwan to transfer the money to another bank account belonging to Al Waseet.
WSJ quoted Kiwan as refusing the arrangement to avoid potential trouble from a US investigation, to which Low retorted; “You are ruining the next five years of my life. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into.”
Low alternatively suggested transferring full ownership of the subsidiary holding the funds to the sheikh, Kiwan said, adding that he had then agreed.
WSJ reported that on September 26, 2016, documents showed that the bank began wiring the funds of €15 million ($17 million) to New York-based law firm Kobre & Kim LLP; US$4.95 million to law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP of Los Angeles; €7 million ($7.94 million) to the Wright Maritime Group of Florida, for expenses relating to Low’s now seized luxury yacht, the Equanimity.
The report said Wright Maritime and the law firms did not respond to queries.
Low has consistently denied involvement in the 1MDB corruption scandal here in Malaysia and elsewhere.
