KUALA LUMPUR: The arrest of former PetroSaudi International director Xavier Andre Justo is “suspicious” and “appears planned”, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday. Not ruling out the possibility of the involvement of the Malaysian government, he said that “very clever propagandists” were hard at work to “blacken” his face.

“What makes me puzzled is that he didn’t commit a crime in Thailand. He committed the crime in Saudi Arabia. Usually, other countries don’t care unless he is a terrorist,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference after a buka puasa event with Perkasa in Kampung Baru here.

“I guess he must be a terrorist — that’s why Thailand arrested him. If it was just a matter of defrauding a company, that should be Saudi Arabia’s problem.”

When asked if he is prepared to apologise should the authorities prove that the leaked documents on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) have been tampered with, Dr Mahathir was non-committal. “I will see what he says. But the circumstances appear suspicious. It seems planned. Many clever people are involved.”

“We are finding some very clever propagandists working very hard, so now my face is blackened and my legacy has all been destroyed,” said Dr Mahathir.

He also believes the emails on PetroSaudi, which Sarawak Report published on its website earlier this year, have not been doctored.

“If you look at the series of emails, it was not tampered with,” said Dr Mahathir. “When we lie, we will get trapped by our own lies. When a follow-up lie is made, it is hard to match it with the first lie.”

Justo is currently in the custody of Thai police for attempting to blackmail PetroSaudi over its deals with 1MDB, The Nation reported. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 26, 2015.