NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT: BREAKING / BUSINESSMAN AT CENTER OF MAJOR MALAYSIAN CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION IS JAILED IN THAILAND

BUSINESSMAN AT CENTER OF MAJOR MALAYSIAN CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION IS JAILED IN THAILAND
REPORTED BY THE TELEGRAPH
A Swiss oil company executive who supplied material to Clare Rewcastle Brown about business dealings in Malaysia has been jailed for attempted corporate blackmail

A former oil company executive at the centre of claims that Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law was part of a plot to topple the Malaysian prime minister over corruption allegations has been sentenced to jail for attempted corporate blackmail.

Xavier Justo, a Swiss businessman who used to work in London for PetroSaudi International, an energy company with offices in Mayfair and Riyadh, was jailed for three years in Bangkok after pleading guilty to the charges.

In a written confession, Justo said earlier that he had met Clare Rewcastle Brown, a campaigning British journalist, as he tried to sell corporate data about PetroSaudi’s dealings with 1MDB, the scandal-plagued Malaysian state investment fund.

Ms Rewcastle Brown, who is married to the younger brother of the former British Prime Minister, has said that Justo was a source as she investigated allegations of corruption and misuse of funds involving 1MDB, which has amassed debts of $11 billion (£7 billion) since it was set up by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

She runs the London-based Sarawak Report website that covers corruption allegations in Malaysia, where she was born. The site has been blocked in Malaysia.

Malaysia has issued an arrest warrant for Ms Rewcastle Brown, who lives in Britain, for allegedly spreading false information and activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Mr Najib has denied any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB. The Malaysian anti-corruption agency recently concluded that nearly $700 million paid into his personal bank account was contributed by an anonymous donor and did not come from 1MDB funds, as had been alleged in some media reports.

Justo, 49, was arrested in June on the Thai island of Koh Samui, where he lived. He was facing a jail sentence of up to six years, but the term was halved because of his confession.

PetroSaudi International had been involved in a joint venture with 1MDB. In the written confession, according to media reports, Justo said that he tried to sell data that he stole from the company to people who, he added, intended to use it to topple Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

In a prison interview with The Straits Times last month, he claimed that he was promised $2 million for the data by a leading Malaysian businessman, but he said he was never paid.

Ms Rewcastle Brown told The Telegraph that she did not pay Justo for the material she obtained. “I did pursue him doggedly to get the material,” she said. “In the end he surrendered it for free. Justo was trying to publish corporate information and given the public interest, it is right to describe him as a whistle-blower.”

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[RELATED: BREAKING / JUSTO TO APPEAL 3-YEAR SENTENCE – "I am not a whistle-blower. I want people to know the real story, not just anything and everything written about me." - Xavier Justo - The Straits Times, September 3, 2015]

[RELATED: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE - "{I} asked PetroSaudi for more money in 2013 but it turned {me} down. Subsequently, through a contact in Geneva with connections in Malaysia, {I} was introduced to Ms Clare Rewcastle-Brown, whom {I} later met in Bangkok at the Plaza Athénée Hôtel and in Singapore at the Fullerton Hotel. In Singapore, she was accompanied by the others named in {my} confession." - Xavier Andre Justo - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE - "{Ms Rewcastle-Brown had agreed to receive the US$2 million from the buyer and send {me} US$250,000 a month for consultancy services.} I don't know if she received the money or not, (because) I was arrested...I have no idea." - Xavier Andre Justo - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE – “Bunkum. What I have presented on 1MDB and has been clarified by The Edge and corroborated by several other official sources is a coherent explanation of events, versus the dodging, changing stories of 1MDB...Why would I wish to alter anything? If I had, why haven't 1MDB and PetroSaudi brought out the evidence of such altering in all of the last five or so months? - Clare Rewcastle Brown - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: CURRENT / JUSTO AND THE EDGE MEDIA GROUP – "Yes, we misled [Justo]. But that was the only way to get hold of the evidence to expose how a small group of Malaysians and foreigners cheated the people of Malaysia of US$1.83 billion (S$2.5 billion). All the more so when we know he will be upset with us because we will eventually not pay him what he wants." - Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY'S LEGAL CODES -"11– Obtaining services dishonestly. (2) A person obtains services in breach of this subsection if– (a) they are made available on the basis that the payment has been, is being, or will be made for or in respect of them, (b) he obtains them without any payment having been made for or in respect of them or without payment having been made in full, and (c) when he obtains them, he knows– (i) that they are being made available on the basis described in paragraph (a), or (ii) that they might be, but intends that payment will not be made, or will not be made in full." - UK FRAUD ACT 2006, August 16, 2015]

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She denied claims made in pro-government Malaysia media that she had tampered with the material, calling the allegations “completely false”.

She also denied allegations that she was part of an anti-Najib plot. “Why would I be?” she responded. “I have no political interest in Malaysia beyond my desire to expose this story of corruption and a natural hope that the people of that country receive justice.

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[RELATED: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY'S LEGAL CODES – "III. “SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT.”; II. “WHICH ONE IS IT?”; I. "NOT TRIABLE IN THE UK.”, August 16, 2015]

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“Several people in Malaysia have been accused as 'plotters' for criticising the PM. These people are pointing out that they are not plotting, they are openly criticising, which is their democratic right and duty to do."

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[RELATED: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE - "I can say that I gave those documents to two groups of people, [one was Ms Rewcastle-Brown and "her IT guy" and the other was the Malaysian businessman and his colleague.] [Those {I} met had talked about using the documents] to try to bring down the Malaysian government. [They also referred to plans to] modify the documents. [{I}...admitted that {I} had stolen company data - some 90 gigabytes worth - when {I} left in 2011." - Xavier Andre Justo - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: CURRENT / JUSTO AND THE EDGE MEDIA GROUP - "Mr Tong and Mr Ho said in their statement that if they had 'intended to tamper with the documents and that our objective was to bring down the government, surely if we had such intentions we would not tell it to someone we were meeting for the first time.'" – The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

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– Philip Sherwell, Asia Editor

('Businessman at center of major Malaysian corruption investigation is jailed in Thailand.' - The Telegraph, August 17, 2015)

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Justo’s original six-year sentence was cut in half after he pleaded guilty Monday at a Bangkok court.

Thai police have refused to comment on the details of Justo’s interrogation but they have held several meetings with Malaysian police since his arrest in June.

Andre Xavier Justo, 48, who has confessed to blackmailing his former employer PetroSaudi worldwide (PSI), will record his plea in the South Bangkok Criminal court today.

Justo is alleged to have stolen data containing confidential information on a joint venture between PetroSaudi and 1MDB, and is said to have agreed to sell it to a group of Malaysian individuals.

The Sarawak Report is now temporarily blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

Early last month, the Wall Street Journal and Sarawak released reports quoting documents they said were from a probe into 1MDB which claimed 2.6 billion Ringgit ($700 million) moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB, before finally ending up in the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal accounts in five separate deposits. Najib has denied any wrongdoing, and called the leaking of documents a political plot against him.

Ms Rewcastle Brown told The Telegraph that she did not pay Justo for the material she obtained.

“I can’t say anything more”, she said when met at a hotel. “In the end he surrendered it for free”.

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[RELATED: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE - "{Justo was} full of untruths...Why would I wish to alter anything? If I had, why haven't 1MDB and PetroSaudi brought out the evidence of such altering in all of the last five or so months?" - Clare Rewcastle Brown - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]

[RELATED: BREAKING / BUSINESSMAN AT CENTER OF MAJOR MALAYSIAN CORRUPTION SCANDAL IS JAILED IN THAILAND – “I did pursue [Justo] doggedly to get the material. In the end he surrendered it for free." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - The Telegraph, August 17, 2015]

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While in custody, Justo also admitted to handing the stolen documents to a “prominent Malaysian businessman” who turned out to be The Edge Media Group chairman Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, as well as Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown. “Justo was trying to publish corporate information and given the public interest, it is right to describe him as a whistle-blower”.

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