17 February 2019
A report quoting the country’s attorney-general’s office claims that 1MDB whistle-blower Andre Xavier Justo is being investigated for economic espionage. The report by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation said the country’s justice minister Simonetta Sommaruga had authorised to prosecute Justo for economic espionage.
This raises a question on the extent to which whistle-blowers can be protected in cases involving corporate corruption.
Last month, The Edge Media Group chairman gave Justo a gift of US$2 million (RM8.2 million) for his role in exposing the 1MDB scandal. “Without him, the wrongdoings involving 1MDB, as exposed by The Edge, would not have come to light,” said the media company’s chairman Tong Kooi Ong.
Justo was working for PetroSaudi International. He was arrested in Thailand and was sentenced 3 years in jail. Justo was charged with an attempt to blackmail his former employer, London-based oil-services company named PetroSaudi. Support from the Swiss diplomats in Thailand saved him from being extradited to Malaysia at the request of corrupt Najib regime. He was pardoned twice by the King of Thailand. Free Malaysia Today reported.
