Why Do You Even Drink?

[Lite Beer]

I was offered $2m for stolen data: Justo


Xavier Andre Justo

BANGKOK: -- Swiss at centre of 1MDB scandal claims 'buyers' wanted to bring down Malaysian govt; daily suspended over articles

SWISS national Xavier Andre Justo - being detained in Bangkok for allegedly trying to blackmail his former employer, claims he was promised US$2 million (Bt68 million) in exchange for data he had stolen from his former employer PetroSaudi.

He also told The Straits Times that he was never paid what he was promised by a prominent Malaysian businessman. It is believed that this businessman wanted to use the data to discredit the Malaysian premier.

Justo claimed a deal was reached in Singapore in February on the sale of the documents, which was followed by lengthy discussions on how he would be paid. The group of people he met in Singapore to negotiate the sale of the data were named in a 22-page confession Justo made to Thai police. He showed a copy of the confession to The Straits Times.

"I tried to open an account in Singapore, to have the money paid directly from [the buyer's] account," Justo said. "DBS Bank refused, I don't know why. After that I opened an account in Abu Dhabi in my own name, which was refused by [the buyer] because it had my name on it.

"Then I tried to use my company account in Hong Kong and he said the same, after that it was through a Luxembourg company and then again [the buyer] refused and after that Clare Brown took the lead," he said.

He was referring to Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the Malaysian-born British-based editor of Sarawak Report, which over the past year has made astonishing claims about the misappropriation of billions at state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), whose advisory board is headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Justo claimed the buyer also "offered to pay me by cash".

He said: "So I was supposed to go to Singapore every week or every other week to receive an envelope with a few thousand or tens of thousands, and repeat this process for months until the final amount will have been paid. And again I refused."

Justo echoed what Thai police said last week - that his confession was backed up by documents, including a record of his WhatsApp conversations with the buyers.

"All of what is written in my confession, most of it is proven by e-mail conversations, WhatsApp messages I have had with [them]."

Rewcastle-Brown had agreed to receive the $2 million from the buyer and send him $250,000 a month for consultancy services, he claimed.

"I don't know if she received the money or not, [because] I was arrested," he said. "I have no idea."

Contacted by The Straits Times, Rewcastle-Brown rubbished the allegations as "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," she said.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported that Malaysian authorities have suspended the publication of The Edge, a move that the newspaper and media groups decried yesterday as a grave breach of press freedom.

In a notice dated Thursday, the Home Ministry suspended the publishing permits of The Edge Media Group for three months, saying its reporting on the 1MDB scandal threatened "public order".

"This is nothing more than a move to shut us down in order to shut us up," group's CEO Ho Kay Tat said.

Earlier this week the government also blocked the UK-based website Sarawak Report, which also has published extensive reports on the scandal.

Ho Kay Tat was also questioned by Malaysian police yesterday over the articles.

On Monday, in a note published on the front page of his daily, Ho said the newspaper had "a public duty to find and report the truth".

"We were not involved in any theft, we did not pay anyone, and we did not tamper [with] any of the e-mails and documents we were given," he said.

He said the newspaper was handing Malaysian government investigators printed documents and a hard disk that contains bank transfers and statements linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Justo also claimed that the group he met in Singapore - including Rewcastle-Brown - had tampered with the data he had given them. "I gave the original documents without any kind of alteration," he alleged.

"I can say that I gave those documents to two groups of people. One was Rewcastle-Brown and 'her IT guy' and the other was the Malaysian businessman and his colleague."

The Straits Times is not naming the businessman or his colleague until they respond to the latest allegations.

Justo alleged that the people he met had talked about using the documents "to try to bring down the Malaysian government", adding that they also referred to plans to "modify the documents".

Rewcastle-Brown vehemently refuted that allegation, saying Justo was "full of untruths".

She said: "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?"

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/I-was-offered-$2m-for-stolen-data-Justo-30265184.html

-- The Nation 2015-07-25

[ezzra]

Oh, What a Tangled. Web We Weave and than all get undone....

[Charlie Croker]

As things now stand

• The information is in the public domain - proven or disprove its still there.
• The person who wanted the information leaked saved US$2mil
• The guy that stole the the information has been caught in Thailand on blackmail charges

Someone has managed to get everything they want and still keep their hands clean.

[steven100]

This is far better than any mission impossible ......

[steven100]

I would have requested the money in cash in a couple of brief cases ..... then let me worry about transferring the money.

[empireboy]

I would have requested the money in cash in a couple of brief cases ..... then let me worry about transferring the money.

Yup!!

Not a very smart criminal.

He should have taken payment in cash and stashed it in a safety deposit box. Why risk a trail that leads back to yourself?

There are so many valid options for moving it later. Like, buying the right art, antiquities, or gems for cash and reselling for instance...

Maybe I selected the wrong career path.

[Charlie Croker]

I would have requested the money in cash in a couple of brief cases ..... then let me worry about transferring the money.

Yup!!

Not a very smart criminal.

He should have taken payment in cash and stashed it in a safety deposit box. Why risk a trail that leads back to yourself?

There are so many valid options for moving it later. Like, buying the right art, antiquities, or gems for cash and reselling for instance...

Maybe I selected the wrong career path.

Even though he has been charged with blackmail. I sounds a lot more like selling stolen personal/business info.

This might be a far lesser crime and not carry any serious penalties. So why not just arrange international money transfers.

Coming to collect the payoff in Thailand was a dumb move.

[halloween]

Latest news is that a Malaysian newspaper has been shut down for 3 months for investigative reporting of 1MDB, and steps taken against blogger. Went back to check story in another paper but seems to have vanished (or just my incompetence)

Edited July 25, 2015 by halloween

[VINCENT2012]

these people look quiet serious, u better not mak about with them...from the photo this guy look funny to me....too much tatooed... eyes not strait to the point ...so.. not to much trustfull to me...! the american way is to they pay some guys to watch on some guys working and another guys to watch the other guys watching the 1st one .....and so on and so on...so at the end they know whats going on every where!...when you know that you better watch out . PetroSaudi International Ltd

PetroSaudi was founded in 2005 by Saudi native, Tarek Essam Ahmad Obaid and other private investors.

PetroSaudi has brought together a core team of highly regarded and experienced leaders from the international oil and gas industry, well suited to meet the company’s strategic objectives and to address the numerous challenges of the upstream oil and gas sector in the 21st century. Through projects in the Middle East, Latin America, and other strategic regions, PetroSaudi has developed significant experience in exploration, development, and related oilfield operations. Today, a vast majority of the world’s crude oil is exported from one country to another, moving across long distances by tanker or through pipeline.

PetroSaudi understands the unique challenges of the international environment. PetroSaudi has developed a reputation as a partner of choice, working in alliances with major international oil companies. PetroSaudi has offices in London, UK, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Geneva, Switzerland.

PetroSaudi owns and operates to ships used for exploration and drilling. The first, the PetroSaudi Saturn, was built in 1983 by Keppel Fels in Singapore and is operated by PetroSaudi since 2010. The second, the PetroSaudi Discoverer, was built in 1977 and has a gross tonnage of 5’897 tons and can drill up to 20’000 feet under water. Petro Saudi also recently (2013) launched PetroSaudi Energy & Trading (PSENTRA), an oil trading and supply operation.

With respect to environmental awareness, their website reads “Throughout all our operations, we ensure the current environmental conditions are meticulously preserved for the enjoyment of future generations”

Official Website - http://www.petrosaudi.com

[HerbalEd]

I would have requested the money in cash in a couple of brief cases ..... then let me worry about transferring the money.

It seems highly likely that they never intended to actually give him the $2M in the first place.

[HerbalEd]

I would have requested the money in cash in a couple of brief cases ..... then let me worry about transferring the money.

Yup!!

Not a very smart criminal.

He should have taken payment in cash and stashed it in a safety deposit box. Why risk a trail that leads back to yourself?

There are so many valid options for moving it later. Like, buying the right art, antiquities, or gems for cash and reselling for instance...

Maybe I selected the wrong career path.

Read the article. They did offer him cash ... in tiny amounts over a long period of time. However, I doubt they were ever going to actually give him any money. Indeed, after many attempts they never did.

[Morakot]

Sarawak Report whistleblowing website blocked by Malaysia after PM allegations

theguardian.com 20 July 2015

London-based site run by Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law censored over claims cash from a state fund ended up in Malaysian prime minister’s bank account

Malaysia has blocked access to a whistleblowing website run by a British journalist which has reported allegations that money linked to a state investment fund ended up in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/20/sarawak-report-whistleblowing-website-blocked-by-malaysia-over-pm-allegations

Edited July 26, 2015 by Morakot

[NongKhaiKid]

When and where was the interview with the Straits Times conducted ?

Did the BIB allow a newspaper access to someone in their custody ? If so I suppose it's no big deal here as matters that should be sub judice are routinely released to the media.