The US has returned US$300 million to Malaysia that prosecutors say was stolen in a multibillion-dollar corruption scheme, authorities announced on Tuesday.
The money comes from assets forfeited last year by financier Low Taek Jho (劉特佐) in a Los Angeles federal settlement.
The settlement covered assets that included a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a Beverly Hills boutique hotel, a luxury jet, and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.
Low and his family agreed to forfeit more than US$700 million in assets and to date, the US has returned or assisted Malaysia in recovering more than US$600 million, a US Department of Justice statement said.
Low, who is also known as Jho Low, did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the civil settlement.
However, he remains a fugitive from criminal charges filed in New York that accuse him of bribery and money laundering.
Low was a consultant for a Malaysian state fund.
Prosecutors allege that he used fund money for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials, to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the US and to help finance Hollywood movies, including The Wolf of Wall Street.
“The repatriation of these stolen funds to the citizens of Malaysia is the result of the tireless efforts of prosecutors and federal agents to prevent foreign kleptocrats and their associates from using the United States as a playground where they can enjoy the fruits of their pilfered wealth,” US Attorney Nick Hanna said in the statement.
The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), was set up in 2009 by then-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to promote economic development. It relied primarily on debt to fund investment and economic development projects, and was overseen by senior Malaysian government officials, court records showed.
US investigators allege that at least US$4.5 billion was stolen from the 1MDB fund and laundered by Najib’s associates.
Public anger over the corruption allegations contributed to the shocking defeat of Najib’s long-ruling coalition in May 2018 elections.
Najib is facing corruption charges for allegedly misappropriating money from the fund.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
RSS