Justo pleased to see charges brought in 1MDB case

KUALA LUMPUR: 1MDB whistleblower Xavier Andre Justo is pleased that his confession on the scandal is now yielding results.

While insisting that he was innocent and had done nothing wrong, Justo, who hails from Switzerland, said those who were directly involved in the scandal should be brought to justice.

When asked about his feelings now that charges have been filed in the case, he said: “Of course I am pleased. I’ve been sent to jail for 18 months, away from my family members. They are the criminals. I’ve done nothing (wrong).

“Seeing them being officially charged is not something that I like.

“It’s not the pleasure of seeing them suffering, but it is the pleasure of seeing justice prevailing,” he said after attending the 10th International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing (IFCTF) 2018 here today.

On June 22, 2015, Justo was arrested at his home in Koh Samui island after PetroSaudi officials filed a complaint that he attempted to blackmail the firm for 2.5 million Swiss francs (RM11 million) with documents stolen from the company.

In December 2016, Justo was among thousands of foreign prisoners who were granted a royal pardon.

Justo also said that there were Malaysian authorities who came to meet him at the Bangkok prison and among them was current Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Amar Singh Ishar Singh.

“I had to ‘confess’ that I stole and manipulated the data and that I was working with the Malaysian opposition with a help of a journalist. And that the PetroSaudi-1MDB deal is a legit one and that guy Mr Razak (Najib Razak) was a nice guy.

“The questions and answers were given to me one day before the Malaysian delegation came to visit. They asked me (the prepared) 55 questions and I had the answers a day before,” Justo claimed.

However, Justo refused to name the other two Malaysians involved.

Billions of ringgit have allegedly been siphoned off from the 1MDB sovereign wealth funds using a web of opaque transactions and fraudulent offshore shell companies.

So far, former prime minister Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah have been slapped with charges relating to the 1MDB scandal.

Singapore has also taken action against several financial professionals in relation to the 1MDB scandal.