(Sept 3): Former PetroSaudi executive Xavier Andre Justo is planning to appeal his three-year jail term on his conviction for blackmail in Thailand, The Straits Times reported today.

The Swiss national is currently being held in a Bangkok jail following the sentence meted out to him on Aug 17. He has one month to appeal and is hoping to get a lighter sentence.

"I wasn't expecting three years," he told the Singapore daily, adding that he had expected his cooperation with police and a full confession to draw a lighter sentence.

Justo was embroiled in a financial scandal involving Malaysian politics, that is linked to his former employer and the Malaysian government-owned investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Speaking to the Straits Times from Bangkok's Klong Prem remand prison, Justo also said that he is looking for a new Thai lawyer. His current lawyer from Switzerland, Marc Henzelin, was present during the interview.

He also told Straits Times he has not been contacted by anyone from Malaysia and "has no idea" if his original confession and transcript of a WhatsApp chat with parties wanting to buy his stolen data had been given to the Malaysian police.

Justo had leaked information linked to 1MDB's deal with PetroSaudi, and was arrested on a Thai island on June 22 and sent to the capital Bangkok the day after.

According to the Straits Times, Justo had quit PetroSaudi in 2011, but two years later demanded 2.5 million Swiss francs (RM10.9 million) from PetroSaudi's chief executive  in exchange for not divulging information he held on the company.

Justo told police that the firm had paid him off once before but refused to pay him again. PetroSaudi eventually filed a complaint with the Thai police in May this year. He was arrested in June at his home located on the Thai resort island of Koh Samui.

While in custody, Justo also admitted to handing the stolen documents to a "prominent Malaysian businessman" who turned out to be The Edge Media Group chairman Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, as well as Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

Justo said a deal on the sale of the stolen data was reached in Singapore in February, and named those involved in his 22-page confession to Thai police.

Both The Edge and Sarawak Report have carried exposes on 1MDB, and have been censured by the Malaysian government.

The Home Ministry has suspended two newspapers under The Edge Media Group for three months from July 27, and blocked local access to Sarawak Report's website.

The Straits Times reported that Justo has also spoken to two European news outlets, and quoted him as saying: "I want people to know the real story, not just anything and everything written about me." – The Malaysian Insider