KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho hit out at Singapore on Thursday (July 13) after the city-state's prosecutors said he had victimised beleaguered Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and received large sums of money traceable to the fund for his own benefit.
Malaysian news portal, The Malaysian Insight reported that Mr Low, in a statement issued on Thursday, said attempts to link him to recently convicted individuals over pocketing "secret profits" were "based on unfounded assumptions".
On Wednesday, former BSI Singapore banker Yeo Jiawei, 34, was sentenced to 4½ years in prison for cheating and money laundering. Yeo's sentence is the most severe punishment to be meted out in the worldwide probe into the alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars from 1MDB. It comes as the Monetary Authority of Singapore wrapped up a two-year investigation on flows linked to 1MDB.
In earlier court proceedings, it emerged that Yeo had referred to Low as "boss" and spent at least one night at his house.
Mr Low, popularly known as Jho Low, was described by Singapore prosecutors as "a key person of interest" in the wider ongoing money-laundering probe.
Yeo's two charges relate to a series of transactions aimed at covering up the transfer of US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) belonging to 1MDB to a bank account Mr Low beneficially owned, said prosecutors.
The Malaysian Insight quoted Mr Low's spokesman as saying that these claims were part of a "politically motivated act and selectively chosen narrative alleging 1MDB as a 'victim'", when the Malaysian authorities have stated there there has been no misappropriation of 1MDB funds.
"No wrongdoing has been proved in any jurisdiction relating to the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds, and this development in Singapore does not change that," the news portal quoted the spokesman as saying.
"Mr Low is confident that any impartial party presented with the complete facts will see that the allegations are flawed, biased and create an inaccurate picture."
