Singapore Says Hong Kong Declined April 2016 Request To Arrest Jho Low

SINGAPORE, July 12 (Bernama) – Singapore said its request to Hong Kong for assistance in arresting Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in April 2016 to facilitate investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, was declined. Singapore refutes media reports that say it did not ask Hong Kong’s help for Jho Low to be apprehended and extradited. “These reports are untrue,” said the Singapore Police Force in a statement on Wednesday. “We issued a warrant of arrest for Jho Low in April 2016, following investigations and charges against him for offences of alleged money-laundering and dealing with stolen property. “In the same month, acting on information received, we sent a request to the Hong Kong Department of Justice for assistance to provisionally arrest Jho Low under the Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Singapore and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China for the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders. “But Singapore’s request was declined by the Hong Kong authorities,” the Singapore police said. In October 2016, Singapore also requested for the publication of an Interpol Red Notice against Jho Low. An Interpol Red Notice is a request by a member country to locate and provisionally arrest a person based on a valid national arrest warrant. To date, both the warrant of arrest and Interpol Red Notice against Jho Low are in force. “Jho Low remains a key person of interest to Singapore in the ongoing 1MDB-related investigations,” the police statement said. It was reported that Jho Low and his family were allowed to leave Hong Kong to Macau because neither Singapore nor Malaysia formally requested his arrest. -- BERNAMA