Kuwaiti court sentences Jho Low to 10 years in prison

PETALING JAYA: Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (pic), better known as Jho Low, has been sentenced in absentia to 10 years’ imprisonment by a Kuwaiti court on money laundering charges.

According to a report in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, the criminal court had sentenced Low, a sheikh, his partner and a foreigner to 10-year jail terms.

A lawyer was also sentenced to seven years on money laundering charges in relation to a “Malaysian fund”.

While the newspaper did not name the Malaysian fund in question, The Sarawak Report said it was referring to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The court, wrote Al-Qabas, also ordered those convicted to return US$1bil (RM4.4bil) and that they would be fined a total of 183mil Kuwaiti dinars (RM2.6bil).

Kuwait’s public prosecution office had reopened the case following a two-year hiatus due to a lack of information from international parties.

“Investigations showed that about US$1bil (RM4.4bil) entered the account of an influential Kuwaiti person and was then transferred abroad,” the report said.

Kuwaiti public prosecutors had charged the defendants “as an organised criminal group” and with having committed the crime of money laundering in Chinese currency, knowing that these funds were proceeds from crimes, theft of funds, and investments in 1MDB.