The police have said that neither their China counterparts nor the China embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been able to verify the alleged arrest of fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho.

Inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun added police had also checked with several other parties (“police representatives”) yesterday, but none of them could confirm Low’s alleged arrest.

He was met at the Police Training Center in the city after witnessing the handing over of duties ceremony of the chief position for the federal police’s Integrity and Standard Compliance Department and Federal Management Department.

Yesterday, Sarawak Report quoted an unnamed Hong Kong radio station as claiming that Chinese authorities have detained the Penang-born businessperson.

On July 11, South China Morning Post said Low had fled to mainland China from Macau, either by car or by a private jet.

Prior to that, the 37-year-old businessperson had escaped to Macau as Malaysian police closed in on him in Hong Kong.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) had claimed in its civil forfeiture suits that Low was involved in multiple instances where 1MDB funds were allegedly misappropriated.

Low is accused of having used 1MDB funds to purchase, among other things, a superyacht, jewellery for Australian model Miranda Kerr, and also a US$27.3 million pink diamond necklace for the wife of an unnamed person known as Malaysian Official 1 (MO1).

The DOJ claimed the pink diamond necklace was purchased using funds that MO1 claimed to have returned to a royal Arab donor, but was instead channelled to accounts allegedly controlled by Low.

MO1 has been identified as former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who has denied abusing public funds for personal gain.