Tom Wright (pic) is in Malaysia to promote ‘Billion Dollar Whale’, a book he co-wrote with Bradley Hope, September 25, 2018. ― Picture by Ham Abu Bakar

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — A “Malaysian source” attempted to mislead The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) early investigations into 1MDB but ended up helping to unravel the scandal in the end, said Tom Wright.

Wright and colleague Bradley Hope were involved in the 2015 revelation that US$681 million (RM2.8 billion) in alleged 1MDB funds were deposited in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s private accounts in 2013; Najib has since been charged over the matter.

The two WSJ writers also co-authored Billion Dollar Whale, a book focusing of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho who is a central figure in the scandal.

Speaking to Malaysian media today, Wright said the source who was linked to the scandal fed them false information and lies, and made veiled threats against him and Hope.

Ultimately, however, the person ended up aiding the duo’s investigations as he was motivated to shift blame to Najib and provided documents about 1MDB’s dealings.

“For example, this source gave us minutes of 1MDB's board meetings. Those were incredibly important documents because they showed internal deliberations of the fund,” he said.

Wright said these included SRC International director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil suggesting that 1MDB purchase an island as this would not be discovered.

He also said the minutes showed that 1MDB had no business plan.

“The source was misleading us, but inadvertently helped us,” he said.

The person cut off contact after two years, with Wright claiming this was because the source concluded that the attempts to mislead him and Hope would not be successful.