PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has issued arrest warrants for three individuals linked to the 1Malaysia Development (1MDB) scandal.
Interpol has also been notified to issue red alerts for the trio.
MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said Interpol was notified yesterday on Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, and PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI) directors Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony.
She said they are charged with criminal conspiracy in abetting the procurement of US$69 million (RM286 million), money MACC said is linked to 1MDB and SRC International.
“We have filed the charges, but they are not in the country, so we had to issue warrants of arrest yesterday,” she told reporters at the APEC 2020 Symposium on Gender Mainstreaming and Women Empowerment to Fight Corruption, here.
Latheefa said the MACC is empowered to charge Obaid and Mahony, even though they are foreigners who are not in the country.
“What you always hear is the amount (of money) in the country.
“But in reality, we are talking about (money) around the world,” she said, adding that the trio have details on the monies.
In November, former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi said that Jho Low had conspired with Mahony and Obaid to mislead former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
An international manhunt has been launched on the “matchmaker” turned mogul over his role in the 1MDB scandal.
Recent reports have placed him in China, Hong Kong, Macau and the United Arab Emirates, all of which have been dismissed by Malaysian police as “fake”.