Tom Wright said this was because sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and the scandal would not have happened without Jho Low.

To a question on whether Low was a more colourful character than former prime minister Najib Razak, Wright replied in the affirmative.

“Yes he is more colourful. But look. This is about Jho Low. 1MDB and the scandal would not have happened without Jho Low.

“Jho Low had gone to Wharton (College), he took a semester off. He had seen how sovereign wealth funds were hugely powerful, and he wanted to do one in Malaysia,” he said during a question and answer session at a meet and greet in the Kinokuniya book store in KLCC here today.

Wright was responding to a question on why he and Bradley Hope had focused on Low instead of on Najib in the book.

Wright said Low had done “crazy unbelievable things”, including negotiating several infrastructure deals in Malaysia involving Chinese state-owned companies.

“He is a more interesting narrative. Najib less so (laughter). He is there in every chapter.

“He (Najib) is an enabler of Jho Low. Without Najib, there is no Jho Low. Also, Low is invoking Najib’s name at every turn,” he said.

Wright also refuted claims made by Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah that the book absolved Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, of any responsibility in the corruption scandal.

“It does not. What it says is that Jho Low is the only person in the story who has the full picture of what was going on. The only one who knew.

“Najib knew that 1MDB was a political slush fund. His defence has always been that he did not take any personal gain. But it does not explain the US$27 million pink diamond he got for Rosmah, the film company for his son, the houses,” Wright said.

He said Najib was probably shocked when he found out that the US Department of Justice had said RM4.5 billion had gone missing.

“I think he was not paying attention. He was not running the fund. He basically allowed a 27-year-old who just came out of Wharton, with no experience, to run a sovereign wealth fund.

“When you do that, money goes missing,” he said.

To another question on how he would describe Low and how someone like him was able to spend taxpayers’ money, Wright said that based on people they had spoken to who knew the businessman, Low was someone who hated to be alone.

“He would never be alone. He would have a group of people around him.

“He was someone who needed five cellphones, who would circle the world with his private Bombardier jet every couple of weeks.

“It was almost as if he was very scared to stay still,” he said.

Wright also pointed out that Low, despite all the money he had lavished on celebrities such as Miranda Kerr and Leonardo diCaprio, wore old clothes and carried a tattered backpack.

On the book, which is currently out of stock, Wright said the reception to the book was astounding.

“I was not expecting anything like it. It is very humbling.

“I did not think it would be released in Malaysia. I thought we’d be selling copies in Changi airport (in Singapore). When we started selling here, we could not believe the interest,” he said.

A long line of readers had queued up to get Wright’s autograph and a picture with him outside the bookstore today.