Follow Jho Low's money laundering trail from Kuwait to Mauritius
Sarawak Report says there were many questions about the Century Banking Corporation and the arrival of a new ‘Chairman’ from Thailand.
According to the portal, Phengphian Laogumnerd bought over the Century Banking Corporation, an Islamic bank in Mauritius.
The portal links Laogunmerd as a close ally of Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign fund’s money laundering mastermind Jho Low.
Jho Low’s full name is Low Taek Jho, he is a Malaysian businessman who had full access to then PM Najib Razak’s house and the Prime Minister’s office.
Low Taek Jho is born 4 November 1981 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
THE KUWAITI INITIATIVE
It is from Kuwait that the money was laundered to Mauritius in several accounts belonging to individuals whom we suspect are Malaysians.
Sarawak Report says the board of the Century Banking Corp was full of Malaysian citizens after the arrival of Laogunmerd.
“Sarawak Report therefore noted the suspiciously coincidental arrival of Laogumnerd as the Chairman of the newly established ‘first Islamic Bank’ in Mauritius, Century Banking Corporation, in November 2016.”
It says this happened just as the heat had been turned up on Jho Low after the Department of Justice (DOJ) seizure of 1MDB assets.
Shortly after the take over by the Thai, there was a huge injection of tens of millions of dollars into the bank.
The question is why an Islamic bank. And of course why so many Malaysian nationals on the team of the Mauritian-based bank?
Jho Low wanted to control his own bank and he was desperate because the international banking system was closing in on him.
Soon after he became known as the mastermind of the 1MDB scandal. The FBI, the DOJ and the police and investigators from several jurisdictions were knocking on his door.
It is evident that his choice of an Islamic Bank was to facilitate the transactions between Kuwait and other Muslim jurisdictions. It would also be convenient for Najib Razak to deal with an Islamic bank.
HIGH LEVEL INSTRUCTIONS: HIDE THE MONEY TRAIL
This is where the intent to deepen the crime of money laundering took place, according to the report from the Kuwaiti secret service.
Instead of notifying Malaysia of the suspicious movement of large sums of money possibly from Malaysian banks, the money laundering authority in Kuwait hand over the report to the Ministry of Interior’s Secret Service Dept.
The report says it was ‘owing to the sensitive nature of the (ownership) of the company and the potential for embarrassment if the ‘truth’ were to be revealed.
The intelligence officers wrote in a report they received “clear instruction from the highest level to hide the truth,”
Instructions were also given to answer on behalf of the owner of the company Sheikh Sabah and his legal representative the lawyer Saud AbdelMohsen.
Jho Low had a few front men in Kuwait, and Sarawak Report names one of the people as Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (Sheikh Sabah) son of the then prime minister.
“According to documents sighted by Sarawak Report, the Kuwait Anti-Money Laundering Agency recorded suspicious transactions of over a €150 million sent to the Century Banking Corporation in 2017 as part of what the Kuwaiti experts described as a classic money laundering exercise.”
The money was part of billions that had arrived into Sheikh Sabah’s account.
CHINESE KICKBACK
The fund is now identified as money from Chinese kickbacks organised by Najib Razak via projects procured through his Ministry of Finance in Malaysia.
Much of the cash went back to Malaysia to pay off debts to Abu Dhabi, but a very large amount had remained in the Sheikh’s personal accounts, says the report.
Sheikh Sabah is under arrest after Sarawak Report broke the story.