In a statement, Amar revealed that the 57 questions they had asked the Swiss national in Bangkok focussed on five issues, namely, his background, PetroSaudi, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the country’s security and negotiations for the exchange of information and documents.
Amar went on to say that the supposed questions that were posed by the police, as claimed by Justo, were not relevant to its investigations. “It will be silly for us to ask such questions.”
Justo was reported to have said: “The Malaysian delegation was of three Malaysian policemen and they told me to say I was a bad man, I liked money and Tarek and PetroSaudi were nice. And also I had to say Najib was the best PM ever…”
Amar said: “We have your statement with us and nowhere can it be seen that the statements you alleged were asked of you.
“Our investigations focused on the alleged theft of data relating to PetroSaudi/1MDB and its subsequent attempt to sell/extort to/from third parties with an intent to affect the security of the country… not on your character or who is the best prime minister.
“So Mr Xavier Andre Justo…don’t lie.”
Justo had previously named Amar as one of the Malaysian officials who had come to meet him at the Bangkok prison.
Justo clarifies comment
When contacted, Justo clarified that it was the Thai police who had forced him to confess “all these lies” and not the Malaysian police as reported.
He said Malaysian police only asked him to answer certain questions.
“They didn’t tell me what to reply, the answers were given to me by Paul Finnegan,” he told FMT, referring to a former UK policeman.
“The Malaysian (police) only came to ask me questions. It was the Thai police that forced me to admit and confess everything, all these lies.,” he said.
According to the Sarawak Report, Finnegan had claimed he was deployed to work on the case by Scotland Yard.
The whistleblower site alleged that Finnegan was “hired by PetroSaudi to handle Justo on their behalf”.
Justo was then in prison in Thailand for blackmail and attempted extortion of his former employer, PetroSaudi International, a Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas company and former joint venture partner of 1MDB.
He was sentenced to three years jail in 2015, but was released in December the following year after being granted a royal amnesty by Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Earlier today, police said they would look into a claim by Justo that he was forced to declare that Najib was the “best prime minister”.
“This might be related to the recording of his statement in Bangkok three years ago,” top cop Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters after launching an anti-corruption seminar here.