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Malaysian fugitive businessman Jho Low believed to be using multiple passports to criss-cross globe
A source said Low continues to make Macau his base but travelled to the middle east and other European countries using these different passports.
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Jho Low (The Star/ANN)
F
ugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or better known as Jho Low, is believed to be using multiple Mediterranean and Caribbean island nations passports to criss-cross the globe.
A source said Low continues to make Macau his base but travelled to the middle east and other European countries using these different passports.
“Jho Low has secured a few different types of passports in the last eight years, mainly through the investment-based citizenship schemes as part of a grand scheme when he was involved in Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund 1MDB, scandal.”
His first known investment-based citizenship passport was from St Kitts and Nevis, a tiny Caribbean island nation in the West Indies.Although the passport was issued in 2011, the country revoked his citizenship in 2018 following full-scale international investigations into the 1MDB scandal in at least six countries. In 2015, Jho Low also obtained a Cypriot passport besides a Maltese passport.
“These passports allowed him visa-free travel to European countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy and over 170 countries globally.”
The source also said Jho Low is believed to have obtained the Maltese passport through an investment-based citizenship scheme.
Henley & Partners, a global passport and citizenship broker which Low engaged to secure his Cypriot passport, said the source, was also the sole agent for the sale of Maltese passport.
The source said Jho Low had no problem making multi-million dollar investments
in properties in exchange for these passports, adding that Low could fly in private jets and evade detection by going through temporary Immigration posts at private VIP lounges where he could easily get his traveling document endorsed.
“In some places, like in the Middle East and several European countries, where these posts are handled by immigrant agents, Jho Low was not required to be present with his passport.”
The source said the posts at these private VIP lounges were not equipped with a sophisticated biometric scanner or linked to the main servers to conduct thorough checks.
“With his rich lifestyle, visa-free passports and connections with wealthy and influential personalities and royalty in Middle Eastern and European countries he was able to move freely, evading arrest and surveillance, ” said the source.
