Xavier Andre Justo speaks at the 10th International Conference for Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing in Kuala Lumpur October 31, 2018. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Former Petrosaudi executive Xavier Andre Justo has denied saying that Malaysian police forced him describe Datuk Seri Najib Razak as “the best” prime minister, as part of a scripted confession meant to discredit himself.

In a Facebook posting, Justo apologised to Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director commissioner Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh, saying that it was the Thai police and former UK policeman Paul Finnigan who had asked him to say that.

“I want to explain that I’m quite sure that I never said these words. I said that Paul Finnigan and the Thai Police gave me your questions in advance and that they wanted me to say that.

“I haven’t check the words that I pronounced during the conference where I supposedly told that, but I’m quite convinced that what I said was about this Paul Finnigan and the Thai Police, not the Malaysian Police,” he said.

Justo added that it could either be a “newspaper mistake”, and that when he was speaking publicly at an international conference in KL, it was in front of 1,000 people and that there was a “high level of stress.”

“I do respect your country and yours laws and I’m not in any way trying to interfere with them. I do respect the law and the police whose duty is to apply it. Furthermore, during your 2015 visit in prison, you treated me with a lot of respect and fairness regardless of me being a prisoner,” he added, and ended his statement describing himself as a “non-liar human being.”

Amar said earlier today that police investigations on Justo only focused on the alleged theft of data and the purported attempt to sell or extort from third parties.

The CCID director commissioner said in a statement in response to Justo that the attempted sale of data from Petrosaudi’s internal server was viewed as a potential threat to national security.

In December 2015, Amar led a team with two other officers to the Bangkok Remand Prison, to record Justo’s statement through the mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

Amar said the 57 questions they had asked Justo were centred on five issues, namely, his background, PetroSaudi, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the country’s security and negotiations for the exchange of information and documents.