KUALA LUMPUR: In early April, the Malaysian lawyers for fugitive Jasmine Loo Ai Swan reached out to top officials at the Home Ministry with a request from their client to explore the prospect of returning home after five years on the run and to negotiate a legal settlement to criminal charges over the financial scandal around 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Apart from pledging to return some 1MDB-related funds, the former general counsel of the sovereign wealth fund, who by most counts is ranked just below one-time globe-trotting financier
Low Taek Jho in the current list of Malaysia’s most-wanted corporate outlaws, also promised to cooperate with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government in its asset recovery campaign, sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told CNA.
The proposal by AmerBon Associates, a law firm based in the capital Kuala Lumpur, came to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who has been exploring new approaches to resolve the outstanding issues surrounding 1MDB, including an
ongoing review of the out-of-court settlement negotiated by the previous Muhyiddin Yassin government with international financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs that is now in dispute.
Within days, Mr Saifuddin and a small group of senior officers from the Home Ministry and the police put into motion a high-level and sensitive covert cross-border operation to bring back a highly valued suspect.