Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 2, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The police have denied 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) whistle-blower Xavier Andre Justo’s claim that he was forced by them to make certain statements, saying it would have been silly for them to do such things.

Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, the former PetroSaudi International executive claimed that he was told by Malaysian officers to say “I was a bad man, I liked money, and Tarek [Obaid of PetroSaudi] and PetroSaudi were nice” and that “[Datuk Seri] Najib [Razak] was the best prime minister ever”, when he had a meeting with a Malaysian police team in 2015.

Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh (pic) issued a statement yesterday in response to Justo’s claim. He said that in 2015, he was the deputy director of CID (legal and investigations) and was responsible for overseeing all criminal investigations at the federal level.

“On Dec 15, 2015, I led a team with two other officers to the Bangkok Remand Prison, Thailand, for the purpose of obtaining a statement from Justo through the mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

“The statement was recorded by the Thai authorities with an English-speaking interpreter and we were present as witnesses,” he said.

Amar Singh said 57 questions were forwarded to Justo, focusing on introductory questions on his family and academics, specific questions on PetroSaudi, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown and negotiations for the exchange of information, documents and data, and general questions relating to the security of the country.

He said the focus of investigations was on the apparent sale of or extortion of money for stolen data to third parties with a view to affecting the security of the nation, and noted that the questions supposedly posed by the police were not relevant to the investigations at all and it would have been silly for them to ask such questions.

“Our investigations were focused on the alleged theft of data relating to PetroSaudi and 1MDB, and the subsequent attempt to sell/extort to/from third parties with an intent to affect the security of the country, not on your character or who is the best prime minister.

“So Mr Xavier Andre Justo … don’t lie,” said Amar Singh.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the police will look into a claim by Justo that he was forced to openly declare that Najib is a good man, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun.

He said the police do not discount the possibility that the claim is linked to a statement taken from Justo in Bangkok three years ago.

“We will scrutinise the claim before making any confirmation. We will also investigate why the claim is being made,” he told reporters after opening an anti-corruption integrity seminar for the police here yesterday.

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