MACC alerts Interpol on arrest warrants against Jho Low, PetroSaudi execs

This comes after the anti-graft body filed fresh charges against the trio in absentia yesterday for a 1MDB money laundering case.

Chief commissioner Latheefa Koya announced this when door-stopped by the media this morning.

"This is part of our ongoing recovery-cum- investigation on 1MDB and SRC International [...]

"This is part of that process where we are charging those people who may have access to details of those monies," she said, adding that MACC will formally release more details on the charges soon.

This is the second arrest warrant issued for Low. He is alleged to be the mastermind of the 1MDB scandal.

Obaid and Mahony were formerly directors at Petrosaudi International Limited (PSI) who were instrumental in brokering the 1MDB joint venture.

“This is a case of criminal conspiracy to abet money laundering,” Latheefa said about the fresh case.

Low (full name Low Taek Jho), Obaid (full name Tarik Essam Ahmad Obaid) and Mahony (full name Patrick Andrew Marc Mahony) were not listed on Interpol’s red notices database at the time of writing.

RM60 million bribe

Sighted by Malaysiakini, the charge sheet recorded one charge against Low and two charges against Obaid and Mahony.

The trio were charged under Section 28(1)(c) of the MACC Act 2009.

Through the 1MDB-PSI joint venture, they were said to have engaged in a criminal conspiracy to enable former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to use his position to receive a bribe totalling RM60,629,839.43.

This was said to have been done between Feb 24 and June 14, 2011, at AmIslamic Bank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch.

If convicted, the trio could be jailed for not more than 20 years and fined either RM10,000 or a sum of not less than five times the sum or value of the gratification; whichever is higher.

US$300 million laundered

Obaid and Mahony’s second charge was under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).

Committing the offence at the JP Morgan branch in Geneva, Switzerland on Sept 20, 2009, the duo were said to have been involved in money laundering by receiving an “unlawful” sum of US$300 million from 1MDB before depositing it into 1MDB Petrosaudi Limited’s bank account.

If convicted, the duo could be fined not more than RM5 million or jailed not more than five years, or both.

The charges were read before Magistrate Mageswary Subramaniam at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court.

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