Deceptively, Clare Brown hides behind a veil of hypocritical environmentalism, supposedly campaigning against illegal logging, 1MDB and her pet topics when in reality, she is a serial liar easily caught red-handed if one lines up all her contradictory statements.

From her little office in London, she spins her yarn against oil palm plantations and logging practices in Sarawak to run to ground the reputation of all whom she is commissioned to destroy.

Under her cloak of environmentalism, Clare Brown has worked to spread lies about her targets and to rebut those who dare to disagree. Her channel of communication is her notorious Sarawak Report and social media with its sinister agenda, far beyond the noble campaign she claims to execute.

Her victims have been 1MDB, Taib Mahmud, family, and the Malaysian Palm Oil industry via her relentless attacks on Sarawak oil palm plantations by joining the campaign against the small Sarawakian oil palm farmers.

Unbeknownst to many, European governments have funded NGOs, and green vigilantes such as The Forest Trust, WWF and Greenpeace and even Clare Brown, all who deceptively lobby against the Malaysian oil palm farmers and forest industry. Worse still, they claim to protect and to support those industries when behind the scenes, they work in a cloak and dagger manner to limit its production.

In 2011, Global News Canada  said, "Clare told 16×9 she has received no money from Malaysian politicians and that her donors are 'all non-politically motivated Europeans'."

Two years later (2013), Foreign Policy reported that "The funding for her radio, she says, comes primarily from a single “European philanthropist” who wishes to remain anonymous; listeners also send donations through the website."

Another two years later, she changes her tune. The Sun Daily reported, "Clare said Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) is largely funded by a reputable European foundation which focuses on rainforest issues. We also receive...mainly small donations from people...through our site's donation page."

Her predisposition to flip-flop is evident in two milestones in her life: Cullen Johnson and Justo.

On May 8 2013 (Sarawak Report), Clare masked her association with Cullen Johnson by saying, “"We do not know whether Cullen Johnson/Dirk Pitt is a genuine battler against high-level corruption (entirely possible) or someone hired to lure us into a trap (equally possible)."

Quite stupidly, Clare made this baseless statement a month after US courts had convicted Cullen Johnson and his wife, White.

After Toronto Star revealed Cullen and his wife had been indicted on fraud, money-laundering charges, Clare changed her tune by saying she treated Cullen’s approach as “suspicious throughout.”

Similarly, when Justo was first arrested, Sarawak Report sprang to his defense and posted stories about him and his family, even to the extent of posting very personal pictures of Justo and his family. 

However, a few weeks later, Clare told The Malaysian Insider that Justo was full of untruths.

Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron (CEO of Malaysian Palm Oil Council) puts in succinctly with this statement:

Brown has consistently been anti-palm oil and anti-small farmer and she trades only in insults and innuendo. 

Her campaign against palm oil hurts many hundreds of thousands across Malaysia, and is an attempt to undermine a genuine Malaysian success story. 

This is unacceptable and deserves a strong response from all Malaysians. 

As CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, I am proud to defend our record of success and achievement. Those who attack and insult our companies and small farmers are not welcome, and should not be given credibility or support.

Do not fall prey to Clare’s cauldron of lies. For too long, the world has been deceived by a sinister international agenda stretching across nations.

With eyes wide open, Malaysians must see beyond these tall tales and compare statements to see for themselves, who is really telling the truth.

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As the full confession and WhatsApp logs of Xavier Justo continues to be leaked and published by the local media in sensational fashion that has implicated Sarawak Report, Clare Brown, The Edge, politicians such as Nurul Izzah and Tony Pua, Sarawak Report has published the full written confession of Xavier Justo on their website here.

Since many users in Malaysia are no longer able to access Sarawak Report due to a government restrictions imposed after Justo and Thailand police had said that data had been tampered by Sarawak Report,  I reproduce the full document here.

I am unable to confirm this confession published by Sarawak Report itself to be 100% legitimate but the contents are very consistent with what our local media has been reporting in their cover page stories. In addition to the confession, our local media also had access to the WhatsApp logs which PDRM sources have confirmed is from the Thailand police investigation and that it will have legal repercussions in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

It appears that Sarawak Report wanted to leak this document first before it got leaked by others so that Sarawak Report can preempt this by providing their conspiracy excuses and reduce some of the more negative reaction towards them.

As Sarawak Report and Clare Brown becomes increasingly desperate as the details are being revealed in media and after Justo has been convicted, Sarawak Report is now accusing that the Switzerland government is now involved in the cover up by their embassy and their govt and also that PetroSaudi has sent secret agents posing as Scotland Yard police to manipulate Xavier Justo whom she now says is suicidal and suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.  Sarawak Report believes that this accusation apparently justifies Sarawak Report releasing the Justo confession on their website here.

In recent months as the Justo story was developing, Sarawak Report had also accused Thailand police (whom she says are corrupted) and Singapore governments (whom she calls a Sin City who spies on journalists)  of colluding with Malaysia to cover up 1MDB.

Xavier Justo's written confession follows:

26 June 2015, Bangkok Remand Prison

On Friday the 26th of June 2015, I hereby confess to my full involvement in, and responsibility for, the offences for which I am charged. They are the attempted blackmail and attempted extortion of PetroSaudi. I make this confession of my own free will and accord without any pressure, duress or outside influence. I do not wish to have a lawyer present.

I fully admit my criminal behaviour and accept my guilt in these matters. I just want to set the record straight and apologise to those who I have wronged. I have conspired with others and further admit offenses of theft of data, handling stolen goods, selling stolen data and IT equipment to third parties and attempting to launder the proceeds of sale. My only motivation for selling the data that I stole was for monetary gain and I never considered myself a whistle-blower.

I worked at PetroSaudi from March 2010 to April 2011. I had two different roles while I worked there. I headed up the IT function and I was also executive administrator of a couple of group companies. I had this job due to my previous administrative roles and my longstanding friendship with Tarek Obaid, PetroSaudi’s CEO. These roles gave me privileged access to PetroSaudi’s confidential data and IT systems.

In March 2011, it became clear that my employment with PetroSaudi would be terminated. I started to worry about how I would provide for myself and family if I didn’t have a job and decided that I needed to protect my financial security. I felt that the best way to do this was to use my access to PetroSaudi’s IT systems to take as much data and information as I could. I didn’t do this because I thought PetroSaudi had done anything wrong. I never saw any wrongdoing while I was at PetroSaudi or afterwards. I did it because I knew the data was important to the company and confidential and I thought I might be able to sell it.

I accessed the data by breaking into my colleagues’ computers and making bulk downloads of whatever I could find onto portable hard drives and memory sticks. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular – just as much data as possible to have the maximum chance of it being valuable. I took this data knowing that I was committing a criminal offence. In total I stole about 90 GB of data which included emails, documents and other material. This was done over several days during March and April 2011.

In early April my contract was terminated and I signed a Settlement Agreement with PetroSaudi. The Settlement Agreement was negotiated by my lawyer and PetroSaudi’s lawyer and contained normal terms requiring me to return data and property and respect confidentiality. I also received a settlement payment based on my salary and my notice period and recognising my friendship with Tarek Obaid. Shortly before signing my Settlement Agreement (original payment to Justo was a settlement agreement and not the first blackmail as some people believe) I downloaded all of the contents of my PetroSaudi computers and drives onto other portable drives that I took from PetroSaudi’s IT stores. I then returned the original IT equipment to give the impression I had handed back all data and equipment.

However, I kept the drives onto which I downloaded all of that data. I admit that all of these actions also breach my Settlement Agreement in addition to my attempts to blackmail PetroSaudi and to sell and transfer the data.

I understand that I will have to pay back all of my settlement payment to PetroSaudi and realise that I am liable to pay damages to PetroSaudi under my Settlement Agreement as a result of my actions.

In July 2013 I contacted Patrick Mahony and demanded 3.5 Million Swiss Francs for the return of the stolen data. Over the next 5 months I sent further emails to Patrick Mahony demanding money otherwise I would sell the stolen data to other interested parties, though at this point I hadn’t contacted anyone else. I knew that releasing this huge amount of confidential data would damage PetroSaudi.

I met with Patrick Mahony at the Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok in October 2013 where I verbally threatened him that if PetroSaudi did not pay me for the stolen data I would sell it to others 1 and cause damage to PetroSaudi. Patrick told me that PetroSaudi hadn’t done anything wrong and there was nothing in the data I stole that would suggest wrongdoing. PetroSaudi refused to pay.

When the blackmail didn’t work I tried to find a buyer for the data and after a while was contacted by Clare Brown. This was in May or June 2014. I know that she is a journalist with Sawarak Report and a relation of Gordon Brown, a UK former prime minister. I met Clare Brown in Bangkok about 10 days after she contacted me. She told me that anything I had involving PetroSaudi’s transaction with 1MDB would fetch a good price and agreed she would facilitate the sale of the stolen data to others.

She promised me I would make at least a couple of million from this sale. During the next six months I kept regular contact with Clare Brown. She tried a few buyers including the entourage of Anwar Ibrahim but wasn’t successful.

In Feb 2015 Clare arranged a meeting at which she was present with Tong Kooi Ong and the editor of one of his newspapers Mr Ho Kay Tat. The meeting took place in the Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore. During this meeting I agreed to sell all of PetroSaudi’s stolen data to Tong for the sum of 2 million USD. I originally asked for 3 million USD and this was negotiated down to the two million.

We only discussed the content of the data at a very high level as they said they were only interested in the 1MDB transaction and I hadn’t worked on it. So I showed them I had a lot of documents and emails from the 1MDB transaction but I couldn’t explain how the documents worked, or what they meant, and I couldn’t give them any background to the transaction. Tong and Clare told me that the material would be used to attack the current Malaysian Government and the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

They didn’t explain to me how they would do this, they just said they wanted some original documents and emails to build a story around. Clare said that as long as I could give them genuine documents, the contents of those documents didn’t matter because she would do the rest.  I didn’t know what she meant by that.

Tong stated he didn’t want to involve the Saudis or PetroSaudi which was important to me. He said that this was an internal Malaysian matter only. He asked Clare to write an article based on the stolen information and for him to proof read the article before publication.

Clare agreed to do this. However, subsequently this proved to be a lie. It was agreed by Tong that I would hand him the data at this meeting and he would pay 2 million USD the following day.

Then I gave Ho Kay Tat PetroSaudi’s stolen data contained on a stolen hard drive. Tong’s IT team who were present took it off him checked the data and copied it for Tong. I handed a second hard drive to Clare Brown. A few days later Clare informed me that the copy was corrupted and I sent her a further copy on a memory stick using DHL to London.

We met again in Singapore a few days after that to discuss the data some more and finalise payment. One or two days after that second meeting I opened a BVI trust in Singapore and tried to open a bank account at DBS Bank to receive the payment. However DBS refused to open the account. Tong told me that he would transfer the money to this account using his UOB Bank account in Singapore, he was unable to do this as DBS refused my account.

I opened an account in Abu Dhabi asking Tong to pay the money to this account using whatsapp. He refused claiming that Jho Low has too many interests in the region. I then offered my Justo-Consulting in Hong Kong for payment, again using whatsapp. Tong refused to pay claiming it has my name which was a risk. I did not put the money in my Swiss account because of the growing story around the Malaysian/ PetroSaudi situation. In fact I closed the account and moved the money to Koh Samui to my wife for safety.

Tong then offered to pay me by cash if I travelled to Singapore, this would be done of several trips. I declined this option fearing detection at airports and exposing myself to arrest.

The latest proposal was to pay me using Clare Brown. We all agreed to do this. It would involve Tong paying her the 2,000,000 USD in the UK and her paying me a monthly amount disguised as a consultancy fee via the Sarawak Report. She proposed that I opened a news desk for the South East 2 Asia Region for which she would first pay me 350,000 USD, followed by a further 1,250,000 USD later.

She told me that she had asked her UK lawyers to set this up and I was waiting for payment when I was arrested. I am aware and fully acknowledge that this would constitute money laundering.

However, so far I have received no money. I still have copies of PetroSaudi’s data which I’m storing in Koh Samui. It’s stored a Samui Storage and I authorised the Royal Thai Police to recover and seize this. Also stored are the whatsapp conversations I had with Clare, Ho Kay Tat and Tong and they are kept on a USB stick. It’s in a black suitcase made by Tumi and in their company safe.

I accept my dishonesty and greed. I would like to sincerely apologise to Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony for the harm stress and anxiety I caused them as individuals. I would like to apologise for my criminal behaviour to the Royal Thai Police and the Thai Courts as well as the people of Thailand.

I would also like to apologise to the Malaysian government and the people of Malaysia for the harm and upset I have caused them by releasing private data concerning business which has nothing to do with me. I never foresaw the magnitude and harm my actions will cause. I deeply regret what I have done and I fully accept the punishment and authority of the Thai Courts and legal system and I will plead guilty when I go before them.

Xavier Andre Justo.

Xavier Justo with senior Thailand Police including Thai Major-General of police Prawut Tavornsiri
Other than baking up all sorts of conspiracy theories, this Sarawak Report and the opposition are very good at selective release of documents without telling the full story. Such telling part of the story without telling the fool story is the same as lying as they can manipulate the narrative to paint the story their way.

Sarawak Report said they have 3 million emails from PetroSaudi but only released a dozen or so but don't want to release the rest.

Just like the whole world were told by the Opposition and the independent press that the Cayman and BSI units held by 1MDB are worthless but end up Wall Street Journal reveal the units are fully guaranteed by Aabar, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi Govt - which means 1MDB actually made quite a lot of money from the PetroSaudi deal instead of billions stolen by Jho Low.

Of course, after this revelation, Sarawak Report  and opposition don't highlight this fact about the units and keep quiet.

Worse is that the WSJ revealed that the PAC members including Tony Pua were told this and shown the Aabar guarantee documents but did not utter a word at all and admit that they were wrong.

By LSS

Source:
http://limsiansee.blogspot.my/2015/09/written-confession-of-xavier-justo.html?m=1

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KUALA LUMPUR: PETALING Jaya Utara member of parliament Tony Pua admitted yesterday that it was he who had introduced Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the woman allegedly spearheading a smear campaign against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to The Edge Media Group’s top guns.

As evidence from investigations into the case of former PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo began to emerge, Pua made this startling revelation but was quick to qualify that he was not privy to the leaks or any transactions.

Pua refused to commit when the New Straits Times asked him on WhatsApp if it made sense for a person, acting as the go-between for the sale of US$2 million (RM8.6 million) worth of supposedly valuable commodity, not to have knowledge of what was being put up for sale, its authenticity or even where it came from.

He was also asked if he was aware that he was aiding and abetting in the sale of stolen data. To this, he asked if the NST was levelling accusations against him.

According to investigation documents traced to the Thai authorities, Rewcastle-Brown, who was allegedly acting as Justo’s broker in selling the data he stole from his former employer, had contacted him in February this year to say that she, together with Pua, had arranged for the sale of the stolen data to The Edge Media Group owner, Datuk Tong Kooi Ong.

Pua’s name cropped up several times in Justo’s written confession and transcript of three-month long WhatsApp conversations involving Rewcastle-Brown, Justo and The Edge’s Tong and Ho Kay Tat, who had allegedly set up the thread.

In another WhatsApp thread between Justo and Rewcastle-Brown (they were using the pseudonyms Fullerton and Athene Ban) to discuss the stalled promised payment to Justo, Rewcastle-Brown told him, “I have asked Tony to set up a meeting with Tong”.

Justo, in his response, asked Rewcastle-Brown to take it from there, saying: “You decide. I thought Tony was the leverage. If they don’t care about Tony, what can the others do.”

Clare responded: “Ok. Waiting for Tony to expand on this. He introduced me and has involvement. None of the parties want this out, I assume.”

In the exchanges, in which Justo’s patience appeared to be wearing thin, Rewcastle-Brown had also allegedly told him: “I have told Tony that if he doesn’t pay up then he will be seen to have been dealing with me as you (Justo) are threatening to publish (make public the deal).”

Pua was called to Bukit Aman on Sept 4 over his statements in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). He then held court outside Bukit Aman, telling the media that police had asked him if he knew Rewcastle-Brown and Justo.

He then said: “I told police that I know Clare and that I met her in London previously. “However, I do not know Justo and have never met him.”

The member of the Public Accounts Committee told his audience that he had declined to answer other questions posed by police and exercised his right to remain silent.

The NST yesterday asked Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) deputy director (Investigation and Law) Datuk Amar Singh, who had on that day confirmed that Pua had been called in, if Pua had mentioned anything about acting as the go-to guy between Rewcastle-Brown and Tong.

Amar said it was not mentioned at all, adding that police would study this new evidence.

Pua had said he was being investigated under Section 124B of the Penal Code for activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy, and Section 124J of the Penal Code for receipt of documents and publication detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said police had received cooperation from the Thai authorities to do what was necessary, including opening new investigation papers, against those with involvement to overthrow the government.

“These (procedures) are normal,” he said.

Meanwhile, former PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told NST that Pua never disclosed any knowledge of the stolen data or the dealings to the parliamentary committee, which sat from May to July (when it was temporarily suspended) to investigate 1MDB.

The dealings for the stolen data started as early as March, before it came to an abrupt end in late June when Justo was arrested by Thai authorities for blackmailing his former employer. Justo, in his confession, said he made it clear to those involved in the deal that he had stolen the data, adding that Tong had told him that there was nothing to worry about and that he “would take care of things”.

“I did not alter or forge any of the data, but I can’t say what Clare, Tong and Ho Kay Tat did to it after I gave it to them.

“All I know is that when I look at the original PetroSaudi data relating to the 1MDB deal, I couldn’t see any wrongdoing,” the documents quoted him as saying.

Protection Group International (PGI) had in July, said Sarawak Report’s published information on 1MDB was “inconsistent” and “unreliable” and that there were inconsistencies between the original information and what was published by the blog.

The cyber security firm was hired by PetroSaudi to investigate the source of the data published online and verify its authenticity.

On June 24, 1MDB said probes into Justo showed that some of the emails concerned had been tampered with, adding that it was confident that the authorities would investigate, establish the facts and take action. Pua, Rewcastle-Brown, Tong and Ho have denied any wrongdoing or conspiracy to bring down the prime minister.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/pua-makes-startling-admission

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PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar is alleged to have offered former Petro Saudi employee Xavier Justo US$2 million (RM8.7 million) in government contracts in exchange for information, the New Straits Times (NST) reported.

He allegedly stole from his employer regarding state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the daily reported.

According to the NST, Justo in his written confession said Rewcastle-Brown contacted him in September 2004 to relay Nurul Izzah’s offer but he declined because he “saw no purpose for it”.

This is the the Umno-linked daily's second instalment on the matter, yesterday reporting that Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewscastle-Brown acted as Justo’s broker.

It reported that Nurul Izzah (photo) was unreachable for comment. Malaysiakini’s calls and text messages to the PKR vice president today has yet to be answered.

Rewcastle-Brown yesterday said it is true she "sounded out" various quarters on Justo’s offer but denied taking any payment for it.

Justo is under arrest in Thailand, after leaking the information to business publication The Edge which had promised but failed to pay him for the information.

The data included e-mail communications between PetroSaudi and 1MDB, which among others revealed how funds moved from 1MDB to a firm controlled by businessman and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s family friend Jho Low.

Pua: I'm not involved in transactions

Justo said Rewcastle-Brown contacted him again in February 2015 to say that she and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua (photo) had arranged the sale of the stolen data to the now supended business publication The Edge, the NST reported.

When contacted by Malaysiakini on the matter, Pua said he introduced Rewcastle-Brown to The Edge top guns, but was not privy to the leaks or any transactions.

The NST said Pua did not respond to its questions.

Justo said he handed over the data to The Edge media group Tong Kooi Ong at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore and the payment of US$2 million (RM8.7 million) was to be made through Rewcastle-Brown, it reported.

"It would involve Tong paying her US$2 million in the United Kingdom, and her paying me a monthly amount disguised as a consultancy fee via the Sarawak Report, which she owns," Justo is quoted as saying.

"She proposed that I open a newsdesk for the Southeast Asia region for which she would pay me US$350,000 followed by another US$1.25 million later."

Yesterday, Tong denied claims of conspiracy to topple Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Source: Malaysiakini

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KUALA LUMPUR: DETAILS of investigations into the case of former PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo, including from his written confession made on his own free will and volition, have revealed that Nurul Izzah Anwar was keen on buying data on 1Malaysia Development Bhd he had stolen in 2011.

The Lembah Pantai member of parliament (MP) was, however, not the choice potential buyer for Justo, who confessed to being consumed by greed. He had wanted US$2 million (RM8.7 million) for the data in cash. When Nurul Izzah offered to pay him instead with contracts that would come in if the opposition succeeded in taking power from Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration, Justo balked and turned it down, the confession suggested.

Justo claimed that Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown was acting as his broker and that she was the one who brought Nurul Izzah into the picture.

“Around September 2014, Clare contacted me and invited me in (sic) Bangkok. She said the daughter of (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim was interested in buying the data. “I declined as Nurul wanted to pay US$2 million in future government contracts when they come into power, instead of cash. I declined the offer as I saw no purpose for it.”

The New Straits Times called Nurrul Izzah repeatedly to get her reaction but could not get through. WhatsApp messages went unanswered.

She (Rewcastle-Brown) tried a few buyers, including the entourage of Anwar Ibrahim, but wasn’t successful, Justo said in the confession he made to Thai authorities on June 26. He said Rewcastle-Brown, who had told him that he would make a few million from this, then contacted him in February to say that she, together with Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, had arranged the sale of the stolen data to The Edge media group owner, Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, and that a meeting would take place soon.

Pua’s name cropped up several times in Justo’s written confession and transcript of the three-month long WhatsApp conversations involving Rewcastle-Brown, Justo, Tong and Ho Kay Tat, who had allegedly set up the thread.

These conversations were also traced to the Thai authority’s investigations into Justo’s case of blackmailing and extorting his former employer.

The transcripts suggested that when Tong and Ho appeared to be stalling the payment of the US$2 million promised to Justo, Rewcastle-Brown told him that she would get Pua to come in.

According to the transcript, on March 19, at 8.12am, Rewcastle-Brown, in a private WhatsApp chat with Justo to discuss the stalled transaction, had told him that “I am seeing Tony Pua this evening. He is a very influential person in their community and was the person who put me in touch. He will give me an insight into what is happening...”

Justo, in his confession, spoke about payment agreements that had been reneged on because Ho and Tong were shifting goalposts.

According to details of the investigation, in the WhatsApp group named “Meet”, Justo had, on March 19 at 7.12am, retorted to Ho: “So you are telling me that you are not going to pay me as agreed in the bank that i have because you feel that this will expose you? I will then have no choice that to (sic) expose the truth.”

The transcript suggested that Ho had responded with, among others: “That exposes us and that makes it difficult for us to do a direct transaction... especially in Abu Dhabi, of all places!!”

Justo, in his confession made from the Bangkok remand prison, said the four used codenames in the WhatsApp group. “Fullerton” was Justo, as that was the name of the hotel in Singapore where he met Tong and his associates, and handed the stolen data with the promise of being paid later. Rewcastle-Brown’s was Athene Ban (for the Athene Bangkok hotel) because that was where she and Justo met for the first time.

Justo claimed that the name “Ho Kay Tat” registered in the group referred to both Tong and Ho, saying they were using Ho’s phone to communicate with him and Rewcastle-Brown.

It was not too long before Justo was picked up by Thai authorities that everyone in the group agreed that Justo would be paid through Rewcastle-Brown.

“It would involve Tong paying her US$2 million in the United Kingdom, and her paying me a monthly amount disguised as a consultancy fee via the Sarawak Report, which she owns.

 “She proposed that I open a newsdesk for the Southeast Asia region for which she would pay me US$350,000 followed by another US$1.25 million later.  “I am aware and fully acknowledge that this would constitute money laundering. However, I have not received any money.”

In the investigation documents, Justo had allegedly said Rewcastle-Brown had asked her UK lawyers to make arrangements for that purpose and that he was arrested while waiting for the payment to come through.

Justo had said that he had no idea if Rewcastle-Brown eventually got the money.

The Swiss national, who confessed to being remorseful, said he had told Rewcastle-Brown that he would be breaching confidentiality undertakings in his settlement agreement with PetroSaudi by selling the data.

Rewcastle-Brown allegedly responded that she was experienced in handling stolen data without anyone finding out. He also claimed in the written confession that Rewcastle-Brown had declined payment from him for being the broker, saying she wanted to bring down the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak), and that “would be payment enough”.

When the NST contacted Pua yesterday by phone, just after noon, he asked that he be contacted via SMS or WhatsApp. Pua, who sat in the Public Accounts Committee looking into the 1MDB investigation, did not respond to the NST's questions on his alleged involvement and if he stood by his past statements where he said he had never heard of Justo, until the Thais arrested him in late June.

The details of the investigation also suggested that Tong and Ho were not agreeable to the payment channels that Justo had suggested, saying that dealing with these financial institutions would expose them.

The parties concerned later came to an agreement that Tong would buy a stake in Rewcastle-Brown’s Sarawak Report. Yesterday, Tong and Ho issued a statement denying any involvement in any conspiracy to topple the prime minister.

The duo said neither they nor The Edge Media Group had any political agenda when they published articles on 1MDB, adding that none of their articles contained any political spin.

Source: NST

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‘I will drink when Najib is done’
BY THE NST TEAM - 7 SEPTEMBER 2015 @ 11:01 AM

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, in conspiring with others against Malaysia, had sensationally told Xavier Andre Justo that she was changing the “destiny of one country” and that she would celebrate with a glass of champagne when “Najib is done”.

A shocking new revelation following the Aug 17 jailing of Justo in Thailand also showed Rewcastle-Brown’s true colours and her willingness to break the laws of several countries by helping Justo raise and, then, attempting to launder US$2 million in payment for emails he stole from his former employer, PetroSaudi. Justo, a Swiss national, is serving a three-year jail sentence in Thailand for blackmailing and extorting his former employer.

But the Thai investigation into his case had opened a Pandora’s box of the lengths Rewcastle-Brown and her fellow plotters were willing to go to, to overthrow Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government. At the heart of these revelations, according to sources close to Thai authorities, were three-month-long WhatsApp conversations involving Rewcastle-Brown, The Edge Media Group’s Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat, and Justo, who had offered to sell his stolen data to the highest bidder.

On July 15, the New Straits Times reported that a former editor of the Sarawak Report had claimed that Rewcastle-Brown had forged the documents used to defame 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and Najib in several exposes published by the site. The editor, Lester Melanyi, was also said to have named several people, including prominent opposition politicians, among those involved in the conspiracy to topple the government.

The WhatsApp conversations, sources said, also revealed Rewcastle-Brown’s close ties with jailed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua and former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In one WhatsApp exchange to Rewcastle-Brown on March 19, Ho allegedly wrote: “Your article editorialises in a way that shows you are out to oust the Prime Minister… We are accused of working with you with (the) purpose of ousting the pm.”
She replied: “I have done this story not you… Fulfil your commitment and I walk away and I tell nobody.”
 She later discussed “maybe we have changed the destiny of one country”.
And in June, she wrote: “We are setting up for one last crack before the (Sarawak) state election… I will drink some when Najib is done… I have picked up the story through Anwar’s people… I have used Dr Mahathir to get other sources of information.”

Justo has claimed that he was promised US$2 million in exchange for data he stole from his former employer. He had told Singapore’s The Straits Times in a prison interview recently that he was never paid what he was promised by a prominent Malaysian businessman. Thai sources later identified the Malaysian businessman as The Edge’s Tong. In a subsequent interview, Justo claimed that a deal on the sale of the documents was reached in Singapore in February, 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.
Justo had echoed what Thai police said recently, 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 email conversations, WhatsApp messages I have had with (them).”

Rewcastle-Brown had agreed to receive the US$2 million from the buyer and send him US$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.”
Thai sources said based on the extensive WhatsApp conversations, Rewcastle-Brown also explained how she would help Justo raise and, then, launder the US$2 million. She first attempted to use SJS Limited in Singapore to channel the funds, working with her brother, SJS director Patrick Rewcastle.

On March 19, she confirmed the commission for the illegal transfer, stating: “The guy wants to charge my brother €67,000. I am sure he will do without cheating.”

She later offered the Swiss Bruno Manser Fund as a channel for the US$2 million, writing on April 22: “He can pay Bruno Manser Fund if he likes.”
She finally agreed to sell a stake in Sarawak Report to pay Justo. Here are some of her conversations with Justo:
May 19, 16:32: He wants to pay through BVI (British Virgin Island) company!! It will look horrible in my published accounts! I will talk it through face to face. Better than dealing with awful KT.
May 19, 16:37: They will say I criticise BVI companies but use them myself. Sigh.
May 19, 17:11: I am campaigning to prevent these tax havens. They will call me hypocrite. I will not make a fuss till I see them and can work out a solution with Tong direct.

Brown had, in the past, rubbished the allegations against her 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.” Tong and Ho had issued a statement on July 24 in response to the Justo interview in The Straits Times. Both said they misled Justo and it was the only way to get a hold of the evidence.

They also said they did not pay anyone to get the story. “We have done nothing wrong.” Thai police arrested Justo, 48, on June 22 at his spacious residence on the resort island of Koh Samui. Justo, a former head of IT at the London office of PetroSaudi, admitted that he had stolen company data — some 90 gigabytes worth — when he left in 2011.

He said he asked PetroSaudi for more money in 2013, but it turned him down. Subsequently, through a contact in Geneva with connections in Malaysia, he was introduced to Rewcastle-Brown, whom he later met in Bangkok at the Plaza Athenee Hotel, and in Singapore, at the Fullerton Hotel.

In Singapore, she was accompanied by the others named in his confession. The NST made repeated attempts to reach Rewcastle-Brown, Ho and Tong for a response.

But at press time, none responded to the queries.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/%E2%80%98i-will-drink-when-najib-done%E2%80%99

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Xavier Andre Justo, the Swiss national held in a Bangkok jail on a blackmail conviction - and embroiled in a financial scandal involving Malaysian politics - plans to appeal against his three-year jail term, he told The Straits Times.

"I wasn't expecting three years," he said. Justo was sentenced on Aug 17, but had expected his cooperation with police and a full confession to draw a lighter sentenceXavier Andre Justo, the Swiss national held in a Bangkok jail on a blackmail conviction - and embroiled in a financial scandal involving Malaysian politics - plans to appeal against his three-year jail term, he told The Straits Times."I wasn't expecting three years," he said. Justo was sentenced on Aug 17, but had expected his cooperation with police and a full confession to draw a lighter sentence.He has until Sept 17 to file an appeal. In the interim, he is looking for a new Thai lawyer, he said from Bangkok's Klong Prem remand prison, where he is serving his sentence. His Swiss lawyer Marc Henzelin was present at the interview.

He has until Sept 17 to file an appeal. In the interim, he is looking for a new Thai lawyer, he said from Bangkok's Klong Prem remand prison, where he is serving his sentence.

His Swiss lawyer Marc Henzelin was present at the interview.

Asked if the details of his confession - and the transcript of a WhatsApp chat he had with the group that made an offer to buy his stolen data in a deal struck in Singapore - had been given to the Malaysian police, he said: "I have no idea."He had not been contacted by anyone from Malaysia, he said.

He lashed out at references to him as a "whistle-blower" who sold data he stole from his former employer PetroSaudi, which contained details of a deal between the Saudi energy firm and Malaysia's troubled state investment firm 1MDB.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak heads 1MDB's advisory board.

"I am not a whistle-blower," Justo said. "It would be easy to be seen in that image, but I am not. They (the buyers) had a political agenda that I didn't know (about). I had no idea what was in those files. I didn't know they were trying to bring down a government. I was stupid," he claimed.

Justo, who had quit PetroSaudi in 2011, demanded 2.5 million Swiss francs (S$3.7 million) from PetroSaudi's chief executive in 2013 for not divulging information he held on the company.

 The firm had paid him off once before and refused to pay him again, instead filing a complaint with the Thai police in May this year.


In June, he was arrested at his plush home on the Thai resort island of Koh SamuiJusto, who had quit PetroSaudi in 2011, demanded 2.5 million Swiss francs (S$3.7 million) from PetroSaudi's chief executive in 2013 for not divulging information he held on the company.

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times on July 23 while in remand, Justo revealed that he was promised US$2 million (S$2.8 million)  - which he was never paid - for the stolen data by Malaysian businessman Tong Kooi Ong, owner of The Edge Media Group.

He claimed those he met over the negotiations, including Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle- Brown, had talked about using the data "to try to bring down the Malaysian government" and had talked of plans to "modify" the data.

The day the revelations were published, Mr Tong in a joint statement with The Edge Group publisher Ho Kay Tat acknowledged that they had misled Justo into believing he would be paid.

"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," they said, denying that they modified any data.

On Tuesday, Justo, barefoot and in prison-issue dark blue shorts and light blue cotton shirt, said he was being treated "better than expected" in prison. "I eat three meals a day. I shower twice a day. Everyone, from the inmates to the officers, has been nice," he said.

Apart from The Straits Times, he has spoken separately to at least two European news outlets. "I want people to know the real story, not just anything and everything written about me," he told The Straits Times.


http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/ex-petrosaudi-exec-to-appeal-against-three-year-jail-term

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BANGKOK: Andre Xavier Justo (pic), the Swiss man who blackmailed his former employer PetroSaudi and then tried to sell data which he stole from the company to a group of people whom he said intended to use it to topple Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, could be given a prison sentence in a court in Bangkok as early as next week.

"The date is still not scheduled," Dr Marc Henzelin, a Geneva-based lawyer retained by Justo's wife in Switzerland, said after visiting his client, who is in remand in Thailand, earlier this week.

Justo, 48, was arrested by Thai police at his house in Koh Samui on June 22. He thereafter signed a full confession and, in an interview on July 23 with Singapore's The Straits Times in jail, detailed how he had met a group of buyers in Bangkok and Singapore to sell them the data. He claimed he was not paid the US$2mil (RM8mil) agreed for the transaction.

On July 24, The Edge Media Group's chairman Tong Kooi Ong and publisher Ho Kay Tat confirmed they had agreed to buy the data and had not paid him.

The Swiss national named Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the Britain-based publisher of the Sarawak Report, as the third person involved in the transaction.

"He is pleading guilty, so there will not be a full hearing with witnesses, because the verdict is already done," Dr Henzelin said over the phone from Geneva.

"There will be a hearing which will theoretically take place next week. It is understood from the police that it should take place next week but it may be 10 days. He will be sentenced straight away."

"The fact that he pleads guilty will be a mitigating circumstance. The fact that he collaborated with the police and made confessions will be taken into consideration by the judge. This has to be pleaded by the Thai lawyer and I'm sure he will," Dr Henzelin said.

The lawyer said he had been told that the sentence could range from six months to one-and-a-half years. Under the terms of a treaty between Thailand and Switzerland, if Justo has less than a year to serve, he could be transferred to do the time in Switzerland. But if he had to serve it in Thailand he would accept that, Dr Henzelin said.

Justo was also considering returning the approximately 90GB of stolen data to PetroSaudi, the lawyer said, in the interest of further mitigating his case. - The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Sourced from The Star

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BANGKOK: Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo has claimed that he was promised US$2mil (RM7.6mil) in exchange for data he stole from his former employer PetroSaudi International.

Justo, who is now jailed in Thailand in connection with attempting to blackmail his former employer told The Straits Times in a prison interview that he was never paid what he was promised by a prominent Malaysian businessman. 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 personal 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 the 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 Tun Razak.

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

"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," he said.

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 US$2mil from the buyer and send him US$250,000 (RM952,000) 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.

The Edge is a Malaysian daily whose, was questioned by Malaysian police yesterday over articles it published related to 1MDB.

On Monday, in a note published on the front page of his The Edge, chief executive officer Ho Kay Tat 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 added.

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

Justo, who gave the interview across a table in a small office inside the sprawling Bangkok Remand Prison, also claimed that the group he had 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 claimed. "I can say that I gave those documents to two groups of people," he added. 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 as well as his colleague pending their response to the latest allegations.

He alleged that those 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".

Refuting vehemently these allegations, Rewcastle-Brown said 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?"

Thai police arrested the tattooed Justo, who has a wife and a nine-month-old son, currently in Switzerland, on June 22 at his spacious residence on the resort island of Koh Samui.

Justo, a former head of IT at the London office of PetroSaudi, has admitted that he had stolen company data - some 90 gigabytes worth - when he left in 2011.

He said he asked PetroSaudi for more money in 2013 but it turned him down. Subsequently, through a contact in Geneva with connections in Malaysia, he was introduced to Rewcastle-Brown, whom he later met in Bangkok at the Plaza Athenee hotel and in Singapore at the Fullerton Hotel. In Singapore, she was accompanied by the others named in his confession.

Justo, 48, was clean-shaven, looking well and composed. He was clad in a light blue cotton prison issue shirt and darker blue shorts.

Looking over his reading glasses, he showed The Straits Times his confession, written densely in capital letters over 22 pages.

He said it had not been made under duress, and that he had been pleasantly surprised at how well he had been treated in the Bangkok prison.

Justo faces up to seven years in jail and a fine if found guilty of extortion. He was hoping for a lighter prison term in view of his confession, his lawyer Pranot Kalanuson told The Straits Times.

Thai police spokesman, Lieutenant-General Prawut Thavornsiri, said on Wednesday that Justo must be tried first in a Thai court on charges of blackmail and serve a jail term - if any - before he could be extradited.

Police are seeking evidence against the Swiss national that would be submitted to the public prosecutors, possibly within this month. - The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Source: The Star

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Another thought-provoking piece for Raja Petra Kamarudin.

A New Dimension to the Justogate Affair

This certainly adds a new dimension to the entire Justogate affair. The Special Task Force cannot continue its job until and unless it is given permission to interview Justo and establish whether the evidence it is using as the basis of the investigation is kosher.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Those who serve in the police force or the intelligence services know that the authorities in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines work very closely together (and Brunei to a certain extent). They share information and help arrest those who are wanted in the neighbouring countries. They do not need to apply for extradition or go to court to get a court order to arrest those wanted in the other countries.

In other words, Malaysia will not need the Thai, Singaporean, Indonesian or Filipino authorities to go through any legal process. Malaysia will arrest those people wanted in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines on their behalf and hand them over.

And this is reciprocated in all the five countries.

This was proven in the days when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister. He ordered the Royal Malaysian Police (PRDM) to round up all those Thai Muslim separatists who were living in exile all over Malaysia to hand them back to Thailand.

The Malaysian newspapers reported that these separatists were arrested as they attempted to enter Malaysia illegally and were deported back to Thailand. The Thai newspapers, however, reported that they were arrested in Malaysia and were handed to the Thai authorities at the Malaysian-Thai border.

In return, the Thais arranged for peace talks and for a peace accord to be signed in Hat Yai in December 1989 between the Malaysian government and the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). If the CPM did not cooperate then they would be deported from Thai soil. If they did they could continue living in Thailand.

Another case in point was Tan Koon Swan. He was the MCA leader at that time and was wanted in Singapore regarding the Pan-El collapse. Malaysia arrested him and sent him to Singapore where in 1986 he was charged for abetting criminal breach of trust relating to the collapse of Pan-El.

After serving his prison sentence in Singapore, Koon Swan was deported back to Malaysia where he was charged and convicted and served yet another prison term in Malaysia.

The Mas Selamat Kastari case is yet another example of cross-border cooperation. He was the head of the Singapore cell of the Jemaah Islamiah who was suspected of masterminding a plot to hijack a plane and to crash it into Singapore airport.

Indonesia arrested him in 2006 and handed him to Singapore. He then escaped from jail in 2008 and hid in Malaysia. Malaysia then arrested him and detained him without trial on behalf of Singapore.

The fact that his crime was plotted (but not yet committed) in Indonesia and was supposed to have been committed in Singapore did not matter. Malaysia still kept him in jail on behalf of Singapore.

Such is how the police forces of these five countries operate and cooperate. They not only share information. They can also take action on behalf of each other and arrest people wanted in the neighbouring countries and detain these people without trial on behalf of each other.

And that brings us to the Justogate affair.

The crime of criminal conspiracy was committed in three countries: Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. The Thai police arrested and interrogated Xavier Andre Justo and shared whatever information they obtained with Malaysia and Singapore.

According to the Thai police, ten people have so far been implicated in this criminal conspiracy — amongst them Umno people, opposition leaders, Malaysian journalists or media bosses, and British nationals.

The Thai police have all the records and evidence, which they are sharing with Malaysia and Singapore in the event these two countries also want to take action against these conspirators.

Some say if the crime was committed in another country, say Thailand, then Malaysia cannot do anything about it. That is not quite true and history has proven this to be so in so many incidences over the last 40 years.

The Special Task Force that was set up to investigate the allegations regarding 1MDB now has to suspend its investigation due to this current development. The Special Task Force conducted its investigation based on the earlier evidence. However, since this evidence is now suspect the investigation can no longer proceed.

The Special Task Force now has to request, through the Malaysian police, for permission to interview Justo to find out whether the evidence was fabricated or doctored. Only once that has been established can the Special Task Force continue its investigation.

This certainly adds a new dimension to the entire Justogate affair. The Special Task Force cannot continue its job until and unless it is given permission to interview Justo and establish whether the evidence it is using as the basis of the investigation is kosher.

By Raja Petra Kamarudin

Justogate Part 1 can be accessed here.

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Xavier Andre Justo is said to have met with around 10 individuals, one of whom was an Umno member, in his bid to sell data he allegedly stole from PetroSaudi International.

The Straits Times reported today that Thai police spokesman Lt Gen Prawuth Thavornsiri said Justo claimed he then sold the data to the same individuals, after PetroSaudi refused to pay the 2.5 million Swiss francs he allegedly demanded in a blackmail scheme.

"Many people, about 10, from the media and from political circles, even from the same party as the (Malaysian) prime minister," Thavornsiri reportedly told the Singapore daily.

The Thai police official added that the former PetroSaudi International director is said to have met the individuals in both Singapore and Thailand, where negotiations were held to buy the alleged stolen data.
Thavornsiri added that excerpts from WhatsApp transcripts on Justo's phone show that the individuals agreed to pay for the data once they were able to verify its veracity.

"They talked to each other many times by WhatsApp, we have the evidence. They talked about paying like this and like that, to pretend to buy and sell," the Straits Times quoted him as saying.

Thavornsiri said he was also willing to share any information with Malaysian and Singapore authorities.

The implications of the data sold by Justo to these individuals were immense as it included email correspondence between PetroSaudi and 1MDB.

Such email content was made available to whistleblower website Sarawak Report, which then published allegations that 1MDB funds intended for a joint venture with PetroSaudi were siphoned to a company controlled by businessman Jho Low, who is a close friend of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's stepson.

It is not known if a Sarawak Report representative was among the individuals whom Justo had allegedly met, as Thavornsiri refused to further elaborate on the individuals named by Justo. – July 17, 2015.

The Malaysian Insider

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Thai police said Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo, who is in custody and expected to be charged with blackmailing his former employer, PetroSaudi, has given a full confession and identified about 10 people who bought documents from him to use to attack Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

"He has confessed everything. He has given us very good cooperation... every document, even from inside his phone,'' police spokesman Prawuth Thavornsiri told The Straits Times.

Justo sold the data he had taken from PetroSaudi to the group, which included media figures and a person from the Prime Minister's own party, according to Lieutenant-General Prawuth. Among them was a Malaysia-born woman who had moved to Britain.

"She has a news blog," he added.

Asked if the blog was the Sarawak Report website, he said: "Maybe. I didn't name it, you named it.''

He said the website "usually gives bad news about Malaysia".

"The website tampered with the data to discredit the PM,'' he added.

 Lt-Gen Prawuth said he could not mention names. But he confirmed that Justo met with "many people, about 10, from the media and from political circles, even from the same party as the PM (Datuk Seri Najib)''. Justo met the Malaysia-born woman three times in Thailand, and also in Singapore, for "negotiation", said Lt-Gen Prawuth.

In the last stage of the negotiations, once the group had verified that Justo's files contained the information they wanted, they discussed how to pay him.

The evidence from Justo included a full transcript of all the Whatsapp chats he had with the group during their negotiations and discussions on how he would be paid. Some meetings are said to have been held in Singapore.

"The way they paid was the same way money-laundering gangs pay, Lt-Gen Prawuth said.

"They talked to each other many times by Whatsapp, we have the evidence; they talked about paying like this and like that, to pretend to buy and sell.''

These details "should be useful" to Malaysian police, he added.

The spokesman also offered to share information with the Singapore police. "This case should be reported in Singapore because the money laundering to attack the PM started in Singapore," he said. "If the Singapore police ask me for evidence (through) the foreign affairs protocol, I can send it."

Thai police arrested Justo at his plush home on the resort island of Koh Samui on June 22. 

The tattooed 49-year-old had worked for PetroSaudi from 2010 to 2011, Lt-Gen Prawuth said. 

"The CEO of that company was Xavier's close friend. I don't know what conflict they had; he (Justo) walked out and requested money from the company," he said.

"The company paid him about four million Swiss francs at the time he walked out.

"After two years Xavier called the CEO again and asked for some money again. Before he left, he had copied every e-mail of the company from the server. It was in 2013 that he called the company and said I know all your secrets, and I want US$2.5 million."

When PetroSaudi turned down his demand, Justo then approached the other group, said Lt-Gen Prawuth, who took care not to mention Malaysia by name.

Justo would be charged with blackmail, Lt-Gen Prawuth told The Straits Times. "The blackmail happened in Thailand, so we only have scope for that," he added.

On July 3, the Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report claimed that US$700 million (S$957 million) linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad was deposited into Mr Najib's private bank accounts over the past two years.

The beleaguered Prime Minister, who is facing calls for his resignation led by influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad, has denied ever using state funds for "personal gain".

Mr Najib has accused Tun Dr Mahathir, who was Malaysia's prime minister for 22 years until 2003, of conspiring with international media to topple his government via "political sabotage".

1MDB's recent struggle to meet financing obligations, as it seeks to pare down RM42 billion (S$15 billion) in debt it racked up in its first five years of operation, has been a lightning rod for criticism against Mr Najib's leadership.

The state investment agency is now the subject of multiple probes by the Malaysian authorities.

Malaysian police have asked their Thai counterparts for access to Justo but have yet to interview the Swiss national.

Source: HERE

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BANGKOK: Xavier Andre Justo, who is under investigation by Thai police for allegedly blackmailing PetroSaudi, has admitted to meeting certain individuals in Singapore to negotiate the handing over of documents in his possession.

“He met with very important people from some country, in Singapore. He negotiated about the price to give them all the copies of the documents in electronic files,” Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Lt Gen Prawuth Thavornsiri told reporters here Thursday.

He said Thai police knew the identity of the people that Justo (pic) had met based on his own admission as well as evidence collected and details from sources.

He, however, declined to reveal who Justo had met.

When asked if Justo had met with Sarawak Report news portal editor and founder Clare Rewcastle Brown, Prawuth said: “There was also someone sent from Europe.”

It was earlier reported that Justo had met with Malaysian opposition leaders and a media owner in Singapore prior to his arrest in Thailand on June 22.

However, Prawuth said Justo denied tampering with or changing the original documents.

“He (Justo) didn’t change. He gave them the original documents in electronic files,” Prawuth said when asked if Justo admitted to tampering with the documents.

He said investigations were almost completed and would take only about a month more as Justo had already admitted to blackmailing PetroSaudi.

He said Thai police had gathered other documentary evidence, such as emails and immigration and hotel reports.

Thai police have no plans to interview other witnesses as they have enough evidence now, he said.

Prawuth said he is unsure when Justo would be charged, but that it had to be within 84 days from the date of his arrest on June 22.

He added that Justo would not be extradited, as the offence was committed in Thailand. – Bernama

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A Swiss man has confessed to blackmailing his former employer, a Saudi oil exploration company, by threatening to reveal documents with information about alleged financial wrongdoing linked to the Malaysian government, police said Thursday.

Spokesman Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri said Xavier Justo, 49, confessed that he threatened to reveal what he claimed was confidential information that would cause great damage to the company, PetroSaudi International.

Mr Justo was detained June 22 in Koh Samuk, following a complaint by PetroSaudi International. He is being held in jail awaiting formal charges.

Although Justo is accused of blackmailing the Saudi company, embarrassment seems more evident in Malaysia because of alleged connections between PetroSaudi and Malaysian state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, which is facing serious financial problems.

Pol Lt Gen Prawut spoke after he and national police chief Pol Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang met with officials from the Malaysian Embassy.

Interest in the case skyrocketed earlier this month when The Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report, a London-based Malaysian anti-government website, published allegations that almost $700 million in 1MDB funds had been transferred in 2013 to bank accounts apparently controlled by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak ahead of a general election.

Mr Najib has denied any wrongdoing, and called the leaking of documents a political plot against him.

Malaysian officials allege that separate, earlier revelations about 1MDB published by Sarawak Report came from documents leaked by Justo. They also said the documents published by the website were altered from those originally in PetroSaudi's files to make the government look bad.

The origin of the more recently published documents about money transfers from 1MDB to Najib's alleged accounts remains unclear, and is the subject of an official investigation in Malaysia.

Thai police said they turned down a request from their Malaysian counterparts to share evidence in Justo's case because the alleged blackmail took place in Thailand and the investigation is ongoing. Police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut said Thai officials would consider what information they could turn over if a request came through diplomatic channels.

Much of what Thai police told reporters Thursday appeared to repeat information previously released or leaked by Malaysian officials.

Pol Lt Gen Prawut said Thailand's investigation showed that the alleged extortion was done by a network of people, including media and politicians in "a neighbouring country", and that the documents in question had been altered. He said the goal was to discredit the government of "another country", obviously Malaysia although he refused to name it. (My own emphasis)

He said the network had held meetings in Thailand and Singapore, suggesting that payment for the documents was made in Singapore, an action he described as money laundering but outside of Thai jurisdiction. (My own emphasis)

Pol Lt Gen Prawut also said there had been no request for the extradition of Justo because the alleged blackmail attempt had been made in Thailand.

Source: Bangkok Post

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According to my deep throat in the Thai police, the names of the people who are on the list to be investigated, with possibly even warrants of arrest to be issued to bring them back to Thailand for prosecution, are Clare Rewcastle Brown, Tong Kooi Ong, Ho Kay Tat, Tony Pua, Sufi Yusof, Kamal Sadiqque and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Well, it looks like the cat is now out of the bag. The Royal Thai Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri, held a press conference at 1.00pm today in Bangkok and confirmed some very damaging evidence. (SEE THE NEWS REPORT HERE).

Meanwhile, yesterday, someone who is said to use to work for Sarawak Report had his statement recorded by the Royal Malaysian Police in Kuching. And what he revealed (SEE HERE) is also very damaging.

Putting all the pieces together, it appears like there was a very elaborate conspiracy to bring down Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak through a so-called expose involving 1MDB, which appears to have been a fraudulent allegation after all.

According to Lt Gen Prawut, Xavier Andre Justo has admitted to meeting “a very important person from a Malaysian opposition party”. While under Thai law the name of this person cannot be revealed until he is arrested and charged in court, Lt Gen Prawut more or less confirmed who it was.

“We have their identities and it would be made public in open court when applications for arrest warrants are submitted…their identities have been made public in your country (Malaysia),” said Lt Gen Prawut.

Tony Pua

So not only do the Thai authorities know who these people are but arrest warrants are going to be issued and most likely Interpol’s help would be sought to arrest these people to bring them back to Thailand for prosecution.

Last month, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that Tong Kooi Ong, who owns the The Edge media group, was issued a warning for allegedly publishing incorrect news. “He must take responsibility for publishing incorrect news, which should have been verified prior to publication,” said Zahid.

There is reason to believe that the person the Thai police meant but could not mention by name at this juncture, until the arrest warrant is issued and he is charged in court, is Tong Kooi Ong.

Tong Kooi Ooi

Lt Gen Prawut further said that Justo denied tampering with the documents that were eventually sold to a certain news outlet in the UK. “He didn’t make any changes to the documents and sent the original documents as digital copies.”

When asked if Justo had sold the documents to Sarawak Report, Lt Gen Prawut said, “Everyone knows which news organisation I am talking about,” more or less saying ‘yes’ without actually saying so.

Basically, Justo confesses to data stealing and blackmail but not to the allegation of document tampering or fraud. He also confesses that he sold the documents to Sarawak Report and that if the documents were tampered then it was not him who did it and he suggests that it was the buyer of those documents who did so.

The Thai police are also pursuing the possibility of money laundering and is looking into shell companies and bank accounts that were set up in Singapore and the UAE that were used to channel money to Justo. An amount of US$2 million is the figure being mentioned that was illegally smuggled into Thailand to pay Justo.

According to my deep throat in the Thai police, the names of the people who are on the list to be investigated, with possibly even warrants of arrest to be issued to bring them back to Thailand for prosecution, are Clare Rewcastle Brown, Tong Kooi Ong, Ho Kay Tat, Tony Pua, Sufi Yusof, Kamal Sadiqque and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It seems some of these people have had several meetings in Bangkok and Singapore to discuss and negotiate the purchase of this stolen information and it was said that a Purchasing Contract had been signed with Justo in Singapore.

“We have confiscated Justo’s personal computer and we have managed to find documents and information pertaining to their meeting at a hotel in Singapore (Fullerton Hotel). Most of this information was found from Justo’s email correspondence and WhatsApp chat records,” said Lt Gen Prawut.

So there you are, on the eve of Hari Raya the Empire strikes back. And is that why Najib was super-cool and did not seem perturbed about the move to use the 1MDB ‘scandal’ to oust him?

Anyway, as Tun Dr Mahathir and the opposition said, Najib must be presumed guilty until and unless he can prove his innocence (Dr M: Duit 1MDB lesap, kecuali terbukti sebaliknya).

I suppose, using this same rule, all those others implicated in various crimes of data stealing, fraud, money-laundering, criminal conspiracy, and so on, must also be presumed guilty until and unless they can prove their innocence.

And that opportunity may soon come when the Royal Thai Police issues a number of warrants of arrest against these people and they are brought back to Thailand to be charged in court. They will then be able to try to prove they are innocent of all these allegations.

 By Raja Petra Kamarudin

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