(May 20): Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin is insisting that businessman Low Taek Jho be investigated by parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over his involvement in debt-ridden state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), The Star Online reported.

He said public speculation over Low's involvement in the scandal was too great to be ignored, adding that "whatever way you look at this issue, Jho Low's fingerprints are all over the place".

Khairy was responding to the PAC, which yesterday said that "at the moment" it had no plans to call Low, popularly known as Jho Low, to its on-going hearing on 1MDB.

But Khairy said that if the PAC wanted to do a thorough investigation, the businessman, who has been linked to various 1MDB deals and who allegedly siphoned off US$700 million through companies he owned, must be called up.

Khairy said he believed that this was what the public expected as well, The Star Online quoted him as saying.

Yesterday, as PAC began its probe into 1MDB, its chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed reportedly said that they saw no need to call up Low or prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the time being.

Khairy today said that he would hold on to the Nur Jazlan's qualifier of "at the moment".

"But eventually they have to call Jho Low up. There cannot be any sort of closure if Jho Low is not questioned," Khairy said.

Whistleblower website Sarawak Report has exposed Low as the architect of an opaque deal between 1MDB and little-known oil and gas company, Petro Saudi International, but Low has denied all allegations against him, and said he has been made a victim by "Umno spin masters". – The Malaysian Insider