KUALA LUMPUR(Oct 31): The world needs a good whistle-blower story, or in other words an exemplification of something good that has happened to a whistle-blower, said the man who blew the lid on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, Xavier Andre Justo.

Justo cited examples of Edward Snowden who was responsible for the US National Security Agency leaks and Herve Falciani who exposed the wrongdoings at HSBC’s Swiss Private Bank. Snowden is wanted in the US and is now said to be in Russia, while Falciani fled to Spain from Switzerland.

“As of today all the examples of whistle-blowers that you have, there is no one that you can say by doing what he did is living a better life, or a similar life as before.

“I am also one of the examples. I did what I did...but I lost all my money pretty much, I spent 18 months in prison, my wife was tortured mentally, I can’t open a bank account because my name is on some data bases.

“So this is not giving good examples to potential whistle-blowers,” Justo told reporters at the sidelines of the 10th International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing 2018, where he was a speaker.

He, however, said he will blow the whistle again, but would do things differently.

When asked what he would be different, Justo said: “I just needed to go back to my country, and give the data to my country [Switzerland] and live there. I was naïve, arrogant and stupid for thinking I was safe in Thailand. I thought I was protected there. I just forgot with hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, you can bribe the world...with money, you buy everything,” he said.

When asked how he felt when The Edge Media Group did not pay him the money he had requested for the data that he had leaked, Justo indicated that there is no bad blood between him and The Edge.

“I have answered this question already. The Edge’s owner [Datuk Tong Kooi Ong] and chief executive officer [and publisher Ho Kay Tat] are my friends. The last time I came to KL, I had a very nice dinner with Kay Tat.

“Whatever is going on between us is between us. They are my friends. I haven’t been paid but they are my friends. We remain friends and bonded forever because I did something but so did they, they relayed the information I provided, so thanks to them too, we have a new government [in Malaysia] today,” he said.