N Sivananthan said he believed that this would have been unacceptable to Malaysia as it did not want the principal offender to go scot free.
“In good conscience, he must face trial as he is the main culprit who was directly involved in the missing 1MDB funds,” he told FMT.
Sivananthan said this in response to a Wall Street Journal report that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had rejected an offer for Malaysian investigators to interview the businessman, better known as Jho Low, in Dubai.
According to the report, Mahathir’s rejection of the offer had been passed through an intermediary.
Sivananthan, who is also a counsel in the International Criminal Court at the Hague in The Netherlands, believes it was just a matter of time before Jho Low is arrested by Interpol or the authorities where he is seeking refuge, before being handed over to Malaysia.
It is believed Jho Low could be in Taiwan or Macau and Malaysia cannot bring him back home as there is no extradition treaty with these countries.
He said since there is an Interpol red notice out for Jho Low, the police in that country could arrest him and hand him over to the Malaysian authorities.
Sivananthan said the Penang-born businessman could be arrested if Malaysia entered into an extradition treaty with the country where Jho Low was now staying.
Low and four others are wanted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for investigations into allegations that as much as US$4.5 billion was siphoned from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015.
Last week, the commission requested Jho Low to come forward to assist in investigations into SRC International, a previous subsidiary of 1MDB.
The commission also asked former SRC managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil Nik Othman, 47, to help with investigations, while urging mystery man Tan Kim Loong, who is alleged to be the signatory for numerous bank accounts overseas, where billions of ringgit originating from 1MDB were laundered, to also assist.
The accounts included that of Tanore Finance at Falcon Bank in Singapore, through which RM2.6 billion (US$681 million) was allegedly transacted to and from Najib Razak’s AmBank account.
Along with Tan, the commission has also called for 1MDB investment director Tang Keng Chee, former general counsel of 1MDB Loo Ai Swan, and Jho Low’s friend Geh Choh Heng to help in investigations.
Interpol’s red notice can be used to arrest Jho Low, say lawyers