Arul said he had met Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho (“Jho Low”) in the past but had lost contact with him.
“He has businesses in the Middle East, and I have met him, in 2011. But I had no business with him, and lost contact with him in 2011.
“If I was still with him, I would be parading my six-pack on the Equanimity, right? Or I might be partying with Paris Hilton, right or not? Sorry, I don’t know him, he is not my friend,” he said to a chorus of laughter from 400 people present at the forum held at Balik Pulau Polytechnic auditorium.
When a reporter suggested that Jho Low should come back to give explanations about his involvement or otherwise in 1MDB, as Arul Kanda was doing around the country, the 1MDB chief said perhaps the media should put out a story asking Low to return to do so.
Jho Low has been linked to 1MDB’s investment with a Middle-Eastern company that went sour. He has been named by the US Justice Department in civil suits seeking the seizure of about US$1 billion in assets – including the yacht Equanimity, private jet, hotels and luxury consumer goods.
The Justice Department alleges that the items were bought with money diverted from 1MDB’s investments. 1MDB has denied the loss of any funds and said the company was continuing to hold negotiations with its partner to resolve a dispute about payments.
Equanimity was recently seized by Indonesian police acting with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation but was later ordered to be released when a judge held that the yacht’s owner, a company registered in the Cayman Islands, had committed no crime in Indonesia.
Paris Hilton has been named in foreign news reports as a guest of Jho Low at parties he has held in the United States.
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