This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019

Last Friday, Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador assured fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, that he will be protected if he returns to Malaysia. Low has been charged with money laundering in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.

Before that, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said Low would get a fair trial because Malaysian courts were not influenced by the government.

A warrant of arrest has been issued for Low because of his suspected involvement in the misappropriation of 1MDB funds, but he has said he will not submit to a jurisdiction “where guilt has been predetermined by politics”.

He has been busy issuing statements proclaiming his innocence and protesting against the actions taken by the Malaysian police and the US Department of Justice.

Instead of hiding behind such statements, why not come home and face the law if he is innocent, as he claims?

If Low has little faith in Malaysian courts, why not claim trial in the US, where he has been charged with making illegal campaign contributions? Together with former Goldman Sachs bankers Roger Ng and Tim Leissner, he has been charged with misappropriating money from 1MDB and using it to pay bribes and kickbacks to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

In response to the DOJ charges, Low has merely stated that he is innocent until proven guilty and did not allege that they were politically motivated.

Leissner has pleaded guilty while Ng is standing trial in the US.

Will Low ever clear his name in a court of law, either in the US or Malaysia?

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