This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 25, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Alleged 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) mastermind Low Taek Jho (pic), better known as Jho Low, plans to strike a deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over the latter’s investigation into the controversial fund, said Sarawak Report.

In a report published over the weekend, the portal said Low’s new US legal team, headed by Republican politician and former prosecutor Chris Christie, had already had a high-level meeting with officials of the DoJ.

“At that meeting, they offered to come to a settlement on behalf of the fugitive Malaysian advisor to 1MDB.

“This represents an effective acknowledgement by Low, who is currently believed to be holed up in China, that he is unlikely to be able to persuade the US courts to return some US$1.2 billion (RM4.96 billion) in assets seized from him alone,” said Sarawak Report.

The report noted that by cutting a deal, Low, who is facing criminal charges in Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland and the US, is hoping to retain some of the value of the assets.

Sarawak Report also said the willingness of the DoJto discuss a deal with Low’s legal team may indicate that it was focusing on other aspects of the case, namely banking giant Goldman Sachs.

“Settling the civil action would free up prosecutors to pursue the Goldman bond issues on behalf of 1MDB, which netted the bank suspiciously obscene commissions of up to 11%,” it said.

The report said the huge sums earned through 1MDB had provided to US investigators their most compelling evidence yet against what many believe to be rogue behaviour by the major bank.

Sarawak Report also said Malaysian authorities were concerned that US authorities may be tempted to negotiate with Low’s new legal team in order to close a case that could otherwise carry on for years.

Notably, the US has recently refused to grant a Malaysian official a request for a guarantee that it would return all the money back from the assets seized, Sarawak Report added.

“It is further understood that the approach from Jho Low’s team has not yet been formally discussed with Malaysian authorities, which may very well react with dismay at the prospect of any settlement of this nature,” it said.

Citing a source, Sarawak Report said this does not mean the US will not return the money to Malaysia, but this does mean the US is insisting on keeping control over the process, and that might include settling the case for less than the entire amount.

Sarawak Report said Low could be paying his legal team by using money stolen from 1MDB.

US investigators have been reported as concluding that the origin of the cash received by Christie and one of US President Donald Trump’s go-to law firms, Kasowitz Benson Torres, is indeed 1MDB.

“Likewise, the money sent to pay the libel lawyers [from] Schillings in the UK, which has been doing its best to disrupt the publishing of the book [entitled] The Sarawak Report as well as the Wall Street Journal’s own book in Britain, is also thought to trace back to 1MDB,” it said.