SEPANG (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is confident that he will be able to question Swiss national Xavier Justo after the former PetroSaudi International executive is charged in a Thai court.
Speaking to reporters after his arrival at KLIA from Thailand on Friday (July 24), Khalid said his meeting with Royal Thai Police Commissioner Gen Somyot Pumpunmuang went well in Bangkok.
He said Gen Somyot raised the issues and limitations over Khalid's bid to question Justo.
"He told me that if Justo was not yet charged, talking to him might cause the charges to be defective.
"He asked us to give him some time to consult his legal advisers on whether the police here and the Thai police can work together on the matter," said Khalid.
He added that the Swiss Government has expressed its concerns over the investigations.
It is believed Khalid had sought permission for Malaysia to question the Swiss national as part of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) probe.
Justo was arrested in Koh Samui in June for allegedly stealing information from PetroSaudi and demanding it pay him 2.5 million Swiss francs (S$3.6 million) to prevent him from releasing the documents.
He is one of the central figures in the 1MDB scandal, after it was claimed that he met members from the governing political party and opposition and media personnel over the documents he had on the 1MDB-linked company.
A video confession by former Sarawak Tribune editor Lester Melanyi claimed that Sarawak Report - which has been writing exposés on the sovereign fund - had bought some documents from Justo but fabricated the rest.
