The Tong, Ho and Clare link to Justo
Justo says that the pen drive and hard drive were handed to the Defendants based on the agreement that they would pay him US$2 million. The Defendants, however, failed to pay him the US2 million after he had handed over the pen drive and hard drive.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
JUSTO’S SUIT
On 17th November 2015, Xavier Andre Justo filed a suit against Tong Kooi Ong, Ho Kay Tat and Clare Rewcastle-Brown in the Singapore High Court.
In his Statement of Claim, Justo said that he had entered into an Agreement on 15th February 2015 with the three Defendants to sell them a pen data storage drive and a hard data storage drive together with its contents regarding the dealings between PetroSaudi and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The amount to be paid for this data was US$2 million, which was supposed to be paid by Tong.
Justo cites a document called ‘Sale of Justo Property IT Software’ as the evidence, a series of exchanges of Whatsapp messages (total of 34 pages) between him and the Defendants, and the meetings in Bangkok and Singapore. There were two meetings in Bangkok and two in Singapore.
Justo says that the pen drive and hard drive were handed to the Defendants based on the agreement that they would pay him US$2 million. The Defendants, however, failed to pay him the US$2 million after he had handed over the pen drive and hard drive.
Justo’s Statement of Claim plus the first Defendant’s Statement of Defence, basically denying all allegations, can be viewed at these links below:
Tong’s denial contradicts his earlier statement that he did receive the data and he did agree to pay US$2 million for that data but never paid the money in the end.
ANNEXURE 1
These are records of the exchanges of WhatsApp messages between March and May 2015 involving Justo, Tong, Ho and Clare that run into 34 pages and which make very interesting reading. I suggest you go through them slowly to understand how the negotiations went because these 34 pages tell a story.
THE SALIENT POINTS TO THE CASE
Justo was a disgruntled employee of PetroSaudi who wanted to blackmail his previous employer as revenge for terminating his services. Justo then stole some confidential data and contacted Patrick Mahony of PetroSaudi and offered to sell the data back to them for 3.5 million Swiss Francs.
In October 2013, Justo met Mahony at the Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok but PetroSaudi refused to pay what Justo demanded. After looking at the data they concluded that it does not implicate PetroSaudi in any crime.
A few months later, around mid-2014, Clare Rewcastle-Brown phoned Justo and expressed her interest in buying the data. Clare then flew down to Bangkok and met up with Justo at the Plaza Athene. Justo showed Clare some of the documents and also allowed her to take some screenshots as samples.
Clare assured Justo that she has good relations with politicians in Malaysia who would be interested in paying a good price for the data. A second meeting was arranged in the same place in Bangkok about two months later for Clare to obtain more details of the documents to show the buyer.
Another six months passed before Clare came back to Justo in February 2015 and told him that she had managed to get a buyer through a Malaysian politician, Tony Pua. The buyer that Tony Pua had arranged was Tong Kooi Ong who owned The Edge.
The next meeting was held in the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore. In attendance were Justo, Clare, Tong and Ho Kay Tat. It was agreed that Justo would hand over all the data he had and the following day the money would be transferred to him.
Meanwhile, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was looking for a way in which to attack Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, saw this as the best weapon to use in that attack. Dr Mahathir met up with Clare and when she confirmed the information and related how she had obtained it, Dr Mahathir went to town with the issue.
The fact that the data was stolen was made known to all parties — Clare, Tony Pua, Tong, Ho and Dr Mahathir. They were also aware that certain parts of the documents had been doctored.
READ MORE STORIES HERE
Revealed: What’s behind the world’s most expensive story?
A 3rd character enters the story, a local businessman, billionaire, who had the willing and the motives to pay those $2 million. The billionaire built his business empire into a virtual monopoly under previous leaders of the country. READ MORE HERE: http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/2015/12/02/revealed-whats-behind-the-worlds-most-expensive-story/
A British blogger and a Malaysian media owner offer to pay $2m for stolen files
On February 2015, Rewcastle Brown contacted Justo to say that she arranged for the sale of the stolen data to Datuk Tong Kooi Ong. Tong, a Malaysian media tycoon, is the chairman of The Edge Media Group, the publisher of The Edge Financial Daily, a financial newspaper, and The Edge Weekly. Justo agreed to sell for $2 milion. Tong offered the money without having seen what really was in Justo’s files. Both Tong and Rewcastle Brown were only interested in 1MDB transactions. Justo gave a copy of the documents to Tong and another to Rewcastle Brown. READ MORE HERE: http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/2015/12/05/a-british-blogger-to-pay-2m-for-stolen-files/
The target is Najib: From fixation to tampering and manipulation
Rewcastle Brown’s WhatsApp conversations, which are in OSI’s possession, confirm that she is out to topple Najib Razak. The documents show that the British journalist developed an obsession with the Malaysian PM. Rewcastle Brown believes that what she is doing is “to change the destiny of one country”. She wants to celebrate with alcohol when “Najib is done”. READ MORE HERE: http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/2015/12/06/traget-is-najib/
Tong promised the bribe, but there is someone else behind him and Rewcastle
Clare Rewcastle Brown doesn’t have $2 million to pay to Justo. Neither does she have the connections to really benefit from PM Najib Razak being removed. She arranged for the sale of the stolen data to Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, a successful businessman and media tycoon. Tong is known to be hostile to the current Malaysian government, has the money and was willing to pay the $2 million. READ MORE HERE: http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/2015/12/07/3-tong-promised-bribe-someone-else-behind-rewcastle/
Francis Yeoh: The businessman with the means and motive to be behind the $2 million story
They are all connected to each other: the billionaire, the former PM, the media owner and the blogger. Yeoh was Mahathir’s crony. Tong is very close to Yeoh. Tong’s media has, on numerous occasions, reproduced material from the Sarawak Report, and Rewcastle Brown has personally written for Tong’s websites. And what’s more, Tong and Mahathir already have business ties. Mahathir’s son, Mokhzani, and Tong were both shareholders in Phileo-Allied Bank in the 1990s before it was taken over by another institution. READ MORE HERE: http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/2015/12/09/francis-yeoh-and-the-2million-story/
