Jho Low and 1MDB scandal: New documentary starts production in London

Jho Low, who is on the run, is widely considered to be the mastermind of the alleged 1MDB fraud. Photo: Filepic

A new documentary about fugitive businessman Jho Low has begun shooting this week in London, reported entertainment news site Deadline.

The feature-length Man On The Run will cover the Malaysia financier's role in the 1MDB money-laundering and corruption scandal.

It is also expected to chronicle the 40-year-old's childhood in Penang, and his time at London's Harrow School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Deadline reported that filming will also take place in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang, among other locations.

The documentary's director and executive producer, Cassius Michael Kim, said that Man On The Run will "examine the full scope of impact for one of the largest known financial scandals in history".

"Through interviews with previously unheard sources and original reporting, our film will be the definitive accounting of this saga as well as an indictment of the global capitalist system and its inability to regulate itself in the face of avarice and corruption," he added.

An expected release date for the film was not mentioned.

Malaysian authorities believe that some US$4.5bil was siphoned out of the 1MDB state fund by high-level officials and co-conspirators, including former prime minister Najib Razak, who co-founded 1MDB in 2009.

Low, who was born Low Taek Jho, is widely considered to be the mastermind of the alleged fraud, and has been charged in Malaysia and the United States for conspiring to launder billions of dollars misappropriated from 1MDB.

He is currently on the run. The most recent reports about his whereabouts in August 2020 suggested that he was hiding somewhere in China.

This is not the first documentary about Low or the 1MDB scandal. The 2018 documentary film The Kleptocrats zoomed in on Low's Hollywood links, which saw him host lavish parties with A-list celebrity guests, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx and rapper Kanye West.

And US trade publication The Hollywood Reporter reported in November that a drama series about the scandal is in the works from Beau Willimon, the creator of Netflix's political thriller House Of Cards (2013 to 2018). Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh ison board as a producer. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network