MACC combs Jho Low’s lavish pad, finds no significant evidence

PETALING JAYA: Graft busters took a step further in their search for evidence held by Jho Low – the alleged mastermind of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

Yesterday morning, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raided a home in the city belonging to Jho Low, who has been on the run for three years now.

However, the swoop on the high-end serviced apartment in Jalan Kia Peng, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, did not yield much results.

Sources told The Star that the team searched the apartment for about four hours but found nothing of significance.

“We believe this place is rarely occupied,” a source said. “This is the only one, so far. There might be other properties linked to him.”

Photographs of the raid showed the team focusing on one room, which was used as an office.

“The room with a white board is believed to be the venue of many meetings between Jho Low and officials from 1MDB where they discussed deals that the beleaguered fund entered into,” said a source.

There were also bundles of RM100 notes recovered from a cabinet.

There was a safe box but it is unclear if the MACC got it open.

It is learnt that the room had a shredder, a printer and a photocopy machine.

A lavish bathroom, with a jacuzzi bathtub, was equipped with a television inside.

It is learnt that a former special officer of ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak led the investigators there as he was spotted in some of the photographs during the raid.

The MACC obtained a warrant to raid Low’s house on Wednesday. Its officers were also seen photographing and recording videos of the entire raid.

The former special officer, a “Datuk”, was adviser to Najib on economic matters and 1MDB fell under his purview.

He was arrested last Sunday. The MACC has since put him under remand for a week until Sunday.

Several hours after the raid ended, a multi-purpose vehicle belonging Najib was seen passing by the lavish apartment at about 6.50pm.

The vehicle was accompanied by a police outrider, a police car and two other cars.