Macau (MNA) – The Judiciary Police (PJ) has told Macau News Agency (MNA) that Interpol Macao, a sub-division of Interpol Beijing in the Special Administrative Region has received ‘the request of the relevant country [Malaysia]’ regarding Low Taek Jho, a key figure in the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal last suspected to be in Macau.

The PJ is currently verifying the content of the request and will provide the information requested by Malaysia .

At a press conference in Gelang Patah on Monday, a minister of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) of Malaysia, Lim Kit Siang, criticised previous Prime Minister Najib Razak for not sending out a notice for Mr. Low’s arrest while the suspect was in Hong Kong, despite there being an Interpol Red Notice filed against him.

Lim cites the South China Morning Post report which showed the Malaysian police had not formally requested Mr. Low’s arrest, adding that the Malaysian billionaire had stayed in an upscale Hong Kong apartment in Pacific Place before leaving for Macau .

Hong Kong police would not be under any obligation to arrest the suspect unless a formal request was made.

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun had said that Jho Low was in Macau but the police are unable to extract him as the Macau SAR does not have an extradition agreement with Malaysia.

However, Mr. Low will be unable to stay in Macau for more than 30 days on his Malaysian passport unless he applies for asylum.

Low is the holder of two passports, one from Malaysia, which has been cancelled and another from St Kitts and Nevis.

The office for the Secretary of Security has previously informed MNA that ‘according to the law, security authorities do not reveal border entry of exit data of anyone’, so it is unclear which passport Low used.

There has been no report about a request for asylum made by Mr. Low at the time of writing.

Lim drew parallels of the failure to order Mr. Low’s arrest with the inaction of the former Prime Minister to stop the ‘criminal conduct’ in the 1MDB scandal in all of its four phases from 2009 to 2014.

The criminal conduct referred to by Mr. Lim was stated in paragraphs 9 to 13 in the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation filed against Mr. Razak to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets, for which US$4.5 billion (MOP36.5 billion) from Malaysia’s state fund had allegedly been misused by ‘multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates.’

Low has been charged with being the mastermind behind the 1MDB financial scandal.

MNA has contacted both PJ and the Public Security Police Force (CPSP), who could not confirm if Jho Low had left Macau.

[updates reflect new data provided by the police]

[updates to show an earlier TDM Chinese report which said Jho Low has left Macau has been withdrawn from the broadcaster’s website]