Earlier this week, the Business Times reported that Low had purchased two high-end apartments in Singapore.
The DAP national publicity secretary said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) should seek his international counterparts to help to freeze Low’s assets and banking accounts which he alleges may have been acquired with with funds from 1MDB.
“Hence we call upon the IGP to not only to arrest Jho Low to assist with investigations, he should start the process to seek his international counterparts to freeze all Jho Low’s assets and banking accounts to ensure that no more of the money which were fraudulently embezzled from 1MDB gets frittered away,” Pua said in a statement.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP pointed out that there were pressing concerns as to how Jho Low was able to acquire billions of ringgit of assets globally in a short span of time.
“The Singapore Business Times disclosed for the first time yesterday that Jho Low has acquired one of the most expensive penthouses in Singapore worth S$43 million (RM116 million), on top of another property worth S$11 million (RM29 million). These properties were purchased in 2013.
The above adds to the growing list of ‘discovered’ assets belonging to the 33-year old financial whizkid,” Pua said.
The DAP man also said that The New York Times had previously disclosed that in 2010, Low paid US$33.5 million for a Time-Warner Condominium in New York and had also purchased another bungalow in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles for US$39 million.
Earlier this week, the Business Times reported that Low had purchased two high-end apartments in Singapore including a triplex penthouse for S$54 million (RM145.2 million) to add to his luxury portfolio that features a “high rise lair” in Hong Kong.
Citing transaction records involving Singapore-based Angullia Park Ltd, a shell company that it said was linked to the tycoon implicated in the 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) controversy, the business paper said Low purchased both apartments back in 2013.
The first of Low’s purchases was one of the two available triplex penthouses at the posh TwentyOne Anguilla Park for around S$43 million; the other unit is still being held by the developer, China Sonangol Land.
In a New York Times exposé last year, Low was reported to have bought a Manhattan, New York penthouse for US$24 million (RM85.0 million), which he then resold to the stepson of the Malaysian prime minister for over US$30 million.
He also purchased a mansion in Beverly Hills, California for US$17.5 million that he also sold to the same person and is now valued at US$39 million.
Low remains in the spotlight over alleged links to 1MDB whose debts prompted critics to demand Putrajaya explain how the state-owned firm managed to amass a reported RM42 billion in liabilities over a span of several years.
Umno Youth and its leaders are blaming Low for the financial woes of 1MDB and demanded that he be investigated as part of the ongoing audit of the firm.
Low has repeatedly denied any association with 1MDB, but continues to be linked to the state-owned firm due to his role in the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA).
1MDB was incorporated in 2009, after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the decision to turn the TIA state fund into a federal agency.
Since then, the fund has been dogged by negative publicity over its finances and debt, and most recently cash flow problems that saw it struggle to meet a RM2 billion loan payment.
Najib last month ordered the Auditor-General and Public Accounts Committee to investigate 1MDB, amid growing demands for explanations over the firm’s allegedly opaque investment decisions and for amassing a reported RM42 billion debt pile.
- See more at: http://m.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/freeze-jho-lows-international-assets-pending-1mdb-probe-igp-told#sthash.WNsqIMy5.dpuf
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