Those implicated in an alleged conspiracy to topple Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration have been challenged to deny that they had any part or were involved in the WhatsApp group "Meet".
"Meet" was so named to signify a meeting the key personalities had in Singapore in February, and is part of the evidence Thai authorities had been looking into in its investigations into Xavier Andre Justo's blackmail of his former employer PetroSaudi International Ltd. It is a three-month long thread between Justo, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who was acting as his broker, as well as The Edge Media Group's top guns, Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat.
Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament and Public Accounts Comittee member Tony Pua, while not a part of "Meet", was widely mentioned, especially by Rewcastle-Brown and Justo.
Barisan Nasional strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said, it was just a matter of time before the evidence detailing any individual's involvement in the alleged conspiracy or any criminal acts came out in the open.
"There have been denials ... selective parts, I noticed.
"Let the whole truth come out now so we can compare them when everything comes out," he said, adding that although what had been published in recent days were attributed to Thai authorities' investigations, they matched what Thai police had suggested in the past.
"Meet" was allegedly set up by Ho on March 19, to discuss alleged money laundering, for the sale of data stolen from PetroSaudi by Justo which Ho and Tong took possession of in Singapore on Feb 15.
The New Straits Times for three days, from Sept 7, front-paged reports of the alleged plot and scheme to launder money by those said to be in the WhatsApp group.
Immediately after the reports were published, Tong and Ho issued a statement to deny that they were involved in a political conspiracy to topple Najib.
Both said they were neither involved in any political conspiracy, nor did they have any political agenda when they published articles on the problems at 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and that they have never linked Najib or the government to the problems at 1MDB.
Rewcastle-Brown who had, in investigation documents, appeared to have planned in detail how Justo was going to get his US$2 million from Tong, had said that what she did was not a crime.
Their discussion was through a separate WhatsApp thread where she and Justo were slagging off Ho and Tong. They also spoke about bringing Pua into the picture to help seal the deal.
She had also said that she would toast Najib's departure.
Meanwhile, a source who had been privy to the document from the Thai investigations, pointed out to the NST that while Tong and Ho had admitted to lying to the Swiss national about paying him for the stolen data, the alleged plan to launder money only came to an abrupt halt when Justo was arrested by Thai police on June 22.
Thai authorities initiated the probe against Justo following PetroSaudi's report on the stolen data and that their former employee was using it to blackmail them.
"In mid June, they were allegedly still discussing how the money for the sale of the stolen property was to be "cleansed" and channelled.
"According to Justo's confession, he passed the stolen data to Tong and Ho when they met at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore in early February.
“So, I would expect someone with no intention of paying to just go quiet on Justo. After all, you would be stealing from a thief ... But of course, there were threats made by Justo to expose those in on it, if he didn't get the money," he said, adding that investigators should also check for a possible money-laundering trail following the agreed deal.
Justo, in his confession, had allegedly said Rewcastle-Brown had told him in early June that Tong had agreed to pay him via her accounts.
She would then pass him US$300,000 first which would be disguised as a payment to him for helping her revamp her Free Sarawak Radio.
"I was arrested a couple of weeks later before receiving the payment. I don't know whether Tong made the payment to Clare ... before I was arrested, but I haven’t been paid," he was quoted as saying in his confession.
The Singapore Straits Times had on July 24, first blew the lid on their involvement, without naming them. But Tong and Ho issued a statement to admit they were among those mentioned as having met Justo in Singapore to negotiate the sale of the stolen property.
Thai police had, in mid July, said the case should also be reported to Singaporean authorities because the money-laundering to attack the PM started in Singapore.
“If Singapore police asks me for evidence [through] the foreign affairs protocol, I can send it,” Thai police spokesman Lt-Gen Prawut Thavornsir said.