Advertisement
Malaysia
This Week in AsiaPolitics

1MDB: Malaysia’s change in government sees whistle-blower flee, banker too scared to return

  • Whistle-blower Xavier Justo left for Switzerland while Pascal Najadi, son of murdered banker Hussain Najadi, is too scared to return to Malaysia
  • New leader Muhyiddin Yassin’s willingness to work with Umno raised concerns about the return of politicians facing corruption charges

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Former Petrosaudi director and 1MDB whistle-blower Xavier Justo has left Malaysia for Switzerland. He is pictured here in 2018 as he arrived to give a statement at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Putrajaya. Photo: AFP
Toh Han Shih
Malaysia’s recent change of government has driven a whistle-blower from the Southeast Asian country to Switzerland, while Pascal Najadi, the son of murdered banker Hussain Najadi, has said he is too scared to return to Malaysia.
Advertisement
Despite fleeing, whistle-blower Xavier Justo has vowed not to give up his fight against the corruption and money laundering allegedly associated with the defunct Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“I will continue to expose the criminal activities of these crooks in the media, through the justice system and through any legal ways. I’m doing, and I will do, everything in my power to bring these criminals to prison. I made a promise to my wife and son that I will not give up before I fulfil this promise,” the Swiss ex-banker told This Week in Asia.

Xavier Justo is escorted by Thai Corrections officers as he leaves a court in Bangkok. He served over a year in a Thai prison after being convicted of blackmail linked to the 1MDB scandal. Photo: AP
Xavier Justo is escorted by Thai Corrections officers as he leaves a court in Bangkok. He served over a year in a Thai prison after being convicted of blackmail linked to the 1MDB scandal. Photo: AP

Justo, his wife Laura and their young son left Malaysia on March 4 without saying goodbye to anyone. “We didn’t want our departure to be known before we were safe in Switzerland,” he said.

Advertisement

Once he arrived in Geneva the next day, Justo posted on his Facebook page: “To all our Malaysian friends. With a great sadness and with our hearts broken we had to leave your beautiful country! We as a family have suffered a lot and I couldn’t take the risk of making the people I love the most suffer again in case things went wrong.”

Justo was jailed in Thailand in 2015 and released in 2016, on what he said was a forced confession to blackmailing his former employer Petrosaudi International. The Saudi company had a now defunct joint venture with 1MDB. He immediately went to Switzerland but returned to Malaysia sometime in 2018.
Advertisement