Fugitive businessperson Jho Low is attempting to strike a deal with the Pakatan Harapan government, according to Billion Dollar Whale co-author Tom Wright.

Among others, he claimed, Low had offered to arrange meetings for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in New York, where the latter is attending the UN general assembly.

“He (Low) very optimistically offered to help the government with its meetings in the US, they are going on now. (Including) Mahathir's meetings on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

“Which to me is amazing, it speaks to Low's optimism,” he said, adding that the information was relayed to him by a source.

Mahathir's itinerary includes meetings with well-known US entrepreneurs and potential investors, the Malaysian diaspora, as well as to engage in bilateral meetings with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Hamad Al Thani and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.

Malaysiakini is contacting the Prime Minister’s Department for comment regarding Wright's claim.

Pressed on whether Low was in the US at present, Wright said he believed negotiations were being done over the phone.

“They have cell phones, right? They communicate all the time,” he added during a group media interview in Kuala Lumpur.

Previously, it was reported that Low is believed to be hiding in China, something Wright (photo) concurred with.

The Putrajaya Sessions Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Low under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 with regard to his role in the 1MDB scandal.

During an interview with the BFM radio station earlier, Wright said Low has also offered to help the Malaysian government with retrieving assets.

“He never gives up. Even now he is texting and sending messages to the new Malaysian government saying, 'Look I'll help you with (for example) Mahathir's meetings in New York this week' or 'I'll help you with getting these assets back, you'll never get these assets back if you don't include me'.

"Most people, I'm sure we would have given up and given ourselves in," he said.

Wright, who described Low as someone with a "high tolerance for risk" and without the "normal run of human emotions", said the latter was undeterred when his involvement with 1MDB was revealed and when he was named in the DOJ lawsuits.

He said when Najib "exiled" Low from Malaysia in 2015, the latter went to China to broker more deals.

It was reported on Sunday that Low was purportedly seeking a settlement with the DOJ but Wright does not believe the department would agree to the settlement.

"If you are the centre of a fraud, how do you plea bargain? It is not as if the DOJ is going to say, 'Hey Jho Low, we are going to cut you a deal here'.

"No, that's not going to happen," he said.

According to Wright, Low is not a financial genius for pulling off these schemes as investigators he spoke to told him that the latter did not go to great lengths to hide his tracks.

The money trail, he added, was easily tracked once investigators began to probe.

Wright said Low's ability to pull off these plans was because he had an uncanny ability to assess, network and connect powerful people with each other.

"The thing that he did that was so amazing is that he was always able to go into a room, see who was powerful, work out how that power could help him and connect that person to another powerful person and put himself into the mix.

"That was really his genius," he added.

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