Jho Low to be given immunity for turning state’s witness
And that is why Mahathir and Daim are offering Jho Low immunity from prosecution if he is prepared to turn state’s witness. They want Jho Low to testify against Najib so that they have enough ‘evidence’ to send Najib to jail. That would be the only way to nail Najib. If not, the 100 days will come and go and Najib will still remain a free man. And that is going to have serious repercussions on Pakatan Harapan’s credibility.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Mahathir is facing a serious problem getting the evidence to arrest Najib
This was what The Star reported on 1st November 2014, more than a month before Khairuddin Abu Hassan lodged his police report alleging that the then Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak stole 1MDB’s money, which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad alleged came to RM42 billion.
The Low family fortune was built by its patriarch the late Datuk Low Meng Tak. The Teochew-speaking Meng Tak was born in 1922 in a village in China’s Guangdong province and had built a substantial part of the family fortune in China and Thailand primarily in the 1960s and 1970s through his entrepreneurship in iron-ore mining and various liquor distilleries. He had also invested in real estate across Asia, in which a portion has been sold over the years, while the family continues to develop or sell the remaining land bank.
Over the years, Meng Tak diversified the family’s business into agriculture and aquaculture, plantations, commodities trading and equity investment, among others. The family fortune was consolidated in 2008 into a global family trust for estate planning purposes.
Unknown to many Malaysians, the Low family was already wealthy long before the story of 1MDB ‘broke’ in December 2014. And even more unknown to Malaysians is that Jho Low’s father, Larry Low Hock Peng, is a Mahathir crony just like George Tan, Abdullah Ang, Tan Koon Swan, Vincent Tan, Francis Yeoh, Eric Chia, Ananda Krishnan, Tunku Abdullah ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Loy Hean Heong, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Yahaya Ahmad, Halim Saad, Samsuddin Abu Hassan, and many more.
Anyway, the Mahathir-Low link goes way back and because of that link Mahathir has no intention of arresting and jailing Jho Low although Mahathir knows where Jho Low is and can easily nab him. Instead, Mahathir and Daim are discussing with the Low family immunity from prosecution for Jho Low if he is prepared to turn state’s witness.
The government is having problems finding enough evidence to arrest and jail Najib, as Mahathir himself admitted. Mahathir and Pakatan Harapan had declared that the day after they get to form the new Federal Government, Najib is going to be arrested and jailed. They also declared they have enough evidence to prove that Najib stole 1MDB’s money.
Jho and Larry Low, long-time Mahathir cronies
But it has now been more than a month and they still cannot do what they promised. And Mahathir has confessed that if they arrest and charge Najib now, they are going to lose their case. So they have to wait until they have enough evidence to nail Najib before they make their move.
But that would be okay if they had the luxury of time. As it stands now more than 30 days have passed and they have only about two months more to arrest and charge Najib if they want to meet their 100 days promise. Hence they need to nail Najib another way.
And that is why Mahathir and Daim are offering Jho Low immunity from prosecution if he is prepared to turn state’s witness. They want Jho Low to testify against Najib so that they have enough ‘evidence’ to send Najib to jail. That would be the only way to nail Najib. If not, the 100 days will come and go and Najib will still remain a free man. And that is going to have serious repercussions on Pakatan Harapan’s credibility.
