PETALING JAYA: The Malay edition of the Billion Dollar Whale book has been launched.

Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, who launched the book here on Saturday (Dec 8), said that the book had revealed much of his suspicion.

"It is an excellent piece of writing, which I hope will reach out to the people. It describes what I have found out before," he said.

Redzuan said that he was in contact with the Department of Justice in the United States in 2016, and enquired whether there was any truth about alleged stolen funds from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

"They asked me to talk to the officers in 1MDB to verify some information, but I could not get anywhere near it.

"The officers would not admit nor deny the information," he said, but experts in the financial sector had revealed certain discrepancies to him.

The English version of Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World, was released in Malaysia on Sept 13.

The book depicts fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who allegedly siphoned billions from 1MDB state funds.

Redzuan, who was a businessman in the oil and gas industry before he entered politics, said that it was difficult to sell Malaysia in the past, and this led him to join politics and make a difference, especially after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad encouraged him to do so.

ZI Publications Sdn Bhd managing director Rashid Azad Khan said that it got the copyright to publish the book from Hachette Book Group earlier this year and signed the contract before the general election in May.

He said that it was a risk they took, because if Barisan Nasional had won, the book would likely be banned.

He said he hoped the book can be read by more Malays and understood in detail.

Former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Legal Affairs and Judicial Reform Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said that the book had printed its first 10,000 copies and were almost sold out.