The Edge keeps up war with Singapore paper over Justo interview

(MMO) – Financial news publication The Edge continued to cast aspersions on the veracity of a 2015 interview by Singapore’s The Straits Times (ST) with former PetroSaudi executive Xavier Andre Justo, maintaining his remarks were demonstrably false.

The two papers have been engaged in an exchange over the interview that previously implicated Tong Kooi Ong, the chairman of the The Edge Media Group, and Sarawak Report chief Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

Ho Kay Tat, publisher of The Edge Media Group, expanded on allegations that Justo had claimed pressure by PetroSaudi executive director Patrick Mahony and UK private detective Paul Finnegan into preparing a false confession to the ST.

In a statement published in The Edge weekly, Ho said Justo had told The Edge that the July 2015 interview in a Bangkok jail was conducted with just the presence of ST reporter Nirmal Ghosh and Finnegan.

Ho cited Justo’s email to The Edge, quoting it as saying: “Mr Mahony left before the arrival of the journalist from The Straits Times and, during the interview, I was alone with the journalist and Mr Paul Finnegan. This interview lasted for around 30 minutes. They left the prison together after the interview was finished.”

“I was specifically instructed to blame myself, Mr Tong and Clare Rewcastle, as well as the Malaysian opposition, and [to] never mention [Low Taek Jho] or Mr Najib Razak. I also had to declare that the data could have been tampered with, and that this was done for political reasons.

“I also had to say I was sorry, and that I did that only for the money and that I was very well treated in prison. I had a few hours to be prepared on what to answer to [Nirmala’s] questions. I did what I was told to do,” Ho cited Justo as saying.

Ho then listed questions such as Finnegan’s role during the interview.

“In what capacity was Finnegan present at the interview? Was he there to ensure Justo spoke according to script? Did Nirmal question Finnegan’s presence? Who else was Nirmal with in connection with the interview when he was in Bangkok?” Ho asked.

In 2015, ST had quoted Justo as claiming that he was offered nearly US$2 million (RM7.6 million) by a “prominent” Malaysian businessman and his colleague for documents stolen from PSI, though he was not paid the amount in the end.

Tong and Ho had then publicly confessed to misleading Justo over the promised sum, insisting that it “was the only way to get hold of the evidence to expose how a small group of Malaysians and foreigners cheated the people of Malaysia of US$1.83 billion.”

On May 26, The Edge reported Justo claiming he was blackmailed into giving a prepared confession in an interview with Ghosh.

On May 27, ST disputed The Edge’s imputation that it was involved in an arranged interview with Justo to present a false narrative, with Ghosh saying that he had pursued the story as a professional journalist and had sought an interview through Justo’s Thai lawyer and then proceeded in good faith to report Justo’s remarks accurately.

“Whatever deals Mr Justo had made, or what his deeper calculation was, I was unaware of. To verify the claims and as per good journalistic practice, we asked for reactions from key people he named — and we used their reactions as well,” Ghosh had said.

ST editor Warren Fernandez also said the publication’s approach to the story was standard and professional, and that the paper was not party to any deals and that its sole purpose was to run the story that every news outlet was pursuing then.