A luxury villa worth 5 million euros in the Limnara area in Ayia Napa is reportedly bought by the most wanted businessman on the planet with a Cypriot passport, Jho Taek Low.
Joe Lowe came to Cyprus on September 18, 2015 and through an express procedure in two days got his passport through an exceptional procedure approved by the Council of Ministers. At the same time, on September 23, 2015, Henley & Partners, acting on behalf of its client Joe Taek Low, bought an unfinished luxury villa in Ayia Napa for the amount of 5 million euros.
Who is Joe Lowe?
Internationally renowned stockbroker Joe Lowe, perhaps the most wanted businessman on the planet for the last 4 years, is a Cypriot citizen. Malaysian authorities have revoked his passport, issued an arrest warrant, he is wanted by Interpol, and assistance has been sought from the US, UAE, Indonesia and India authorities in locating him. Myanmar, China and Hong Kong. How and when did Mr. Lowe become a Cypriot?
Jho Taek Low is said to have been involved in a multibillion-dollar theft scandal that erupted in 2015. He was running an investment superfund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which was headed by the then prime minister. same. According to a Bloomberg report, Lowe allegedly set up a number of shell companies through which he channeled hundreds of millions, much of which ended up in his own accounts. As soon as the scandal over the management of this fund broke out in 2015, involving 30 executives of the American investment house Goldman Sacs, the Malaysian Croesus addressed the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, through the international company Henley & Partners which specializes in naturalization and . Following the procedures of the Cyprus Investment Plan, he obtained the passport of the Republic of Cyprus.
According to international media, Lowe avoids arrest, moving to various cities in China, which so far shows no willingness to extradite him despite the international warrant against him. According to a Bloomberg report (How Malaysia's 1MDB Scandal Shook the Financial World: 23/10/2019) Lowe has been identified and is expected to be issued to the country's authorities by the end of the year. Lowe himself said in an interview with an Indonesian newspaper that he had done nothing wrong and was simply advising the former Malaysian prime minister. According to a report in the October 31, 2019 issue of the Singaporean newspaper "The Straits Times", Lowe is in the process of reaching an agreement with the US Department of Justice, undertaking to return around $ 1 billion in relation to cases before the Court of California since 2016 and relate to the Malaysian investment fund.
The scandal
The 1MDB fund was set up in 2009 by former Prime Minister Najib Razak as a vehicle to lead the country to growth and boost the country's public wealth. Razak was arrested on September 19, 2018 and is on trial in Malaysia facing 32 charges of fraud and money laundering. Initially, the fund aimed to raise $ 8 billion in bonds with the help of Goldman Sachs. Today, due to his poor management, he has managed to have debts of 11,73 billion dollars, while according to the American authorities, at least 4,5 billion dollars have been stolen. Broker Joe Lowe, an adviser to Prime Minister Razak, is the number one suspect in, among other things, the laundering of more than $ 1 million embezzled from a US bank account. In the US, prosecutors have already implicated at least two top bank executives in a case of bribery, theft and money laundering through the Malaysian "Superfund" (400MDB) in a case that has already received the praise of "one of the largest financial scams in history ”.
According to a Reuters report, Brooklyn prosecutors are investigating the case of Tim Leisner, a former top Goldman Sachs banker in Southeast Asia, who was found guilty of conspiracy to launder money laundering and money laundering. . Also charged is former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Angie, who was arrested in Malaysia at the request of US authorities and will be extradited to US authorities.
In July 2016, US Justice Department launched an investigation into an attempt to recover part of the 4,5 billion euros embezzled from the fund through accounts in Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States. The scandal erupted in 2015, after the fund that had been charged with more than 11 billion euros violated the repayment terms.
In October 2016, Interpol issued a red alert assisting Singapore's request to locate and arrest Lowe in an investigation into 1MDB's cash flow within its jurisdiction. The request for assistance in Lowe's temporary arrest was sent to the Hong Kong Ministry of Justice in April 2016, according to a Singapore Police spokesman, but the request was denied.
Contact with Cyprus
In this difficult turn of his business, Mr. Joe Lowe sought an alternative passport to be able to travel internationally. The well-known company Henley & Partners, which specializes in international naturalization and home acquisition, started contacts in Cyprus at the end of spring 2015 to secure a passport for its client.
It is very important to note that the date is not irrelevant. On March 10, 2015, the Attorney General of Malaysia, by order of the Council of Ministers of the country, conducted an investigation of the financial accounts of the Malaysian Superfund (1MDB Group) in order to verify whether its returns and activities are in line with its objectives. announced in 2009. The investigation, which focused on the country's Prime Minister Najib Razak and his adviser Joe Lowe, was deemed confidential on March 4, 2016 and entered the file. The poll was released on May 15, 2018, when Razak lost the election and was succeeded as the new Prime Minister by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. A new inquiry was then ordered by the country's finance minister, which revealed that the Malaysian Development Superfund was bankrupt. The chairman of the fund, Arul Kanda, was fired from his post, while legal proceedings were initiated against former Prime Minister Razak and his adviser and Cypriot citizen Joe Lowe.
Was it investigated?
At first glance, based on the above, it could be said that Mr. Joe Lowe, when he requested the passport of the Republic of Cyprus at the end of spring 2015, was not wanted. Nor had any warrants been issued against him. It was certainly a major issue in all the international media, because in the meantime it had become well-known. So was an investigation carried out by the Cypriot authorities to verify who he is? It is true that the criteria then were much more relaxed than today. Of course, the law firms and the accounting firms that undertook the naturalizations, as well as the banks that received the deposits provided by the plan, had the obligation to carry out their own investigation.
The Cyprus Investment Program (KEP), which started operating in 2013, was revised on 19/3/2014. According to his provisions, which also concerned the naturalization of Joe Lowe, the passport holder would have to deposit 3 million euros in a Cypriot bank for 5 years and buy a permanent residence of 500.000.
Henley & Partners, which undertook the completion of the naturalization of the then 34-year-old businessman (born in November 1981), addressed a well-known audit office in Nicosia, which asked it to prepare the relevant applications and submit what is required by law for the naturalization of Mr. Lowe by the Ministry of Interior under the ministry of Socrates Hasikos.
Henley & Partners has conducted a search for the Malaysian businessman. The investigation was undertaken by Thomson Reuters, which delivered it on June 2, 2015. Based on the Risk Table which consisted of 14 chapters, Joe Lowe was found to have a problem in 4 of the 14 chapters in which he was investigated. The investigation showed a) that he has a problem as a politically exposed person b) that he has charges against him for money laundering c) that he is accused of fraud and violation of financial regulations and d) that there are a number of other risky factors (other risk factors ). All this was recorded in a report that exceeded 100 pages. Based on the risk, the Thomson Reuters report had 4 degrees of severity, namely green, yellow, orange and red. All four categories in which Mr. Lowe found himself with problems referred to orange and red.
Under these circumstances, did Henley & Partners and its partners in Cyprus, who brought him to Cyprus for naturalization, inform any officials? Mr. Low based on the information we have deposited in a Cypriot bank on June 24, 2015 the amount of 5.960.000 euros. However, based on the KEP, it had to pass the control of the Central Bank, the Bank of Cyprus where it was deposited, but also of MOKAS. Was this check done? Someone has to answer these questions.
The luxurious villa in Ayia Napa
Mr. Joe Lowe came to Cyprus on September 18, 2015 and through an express procedure in 2 days exceptionally received his passport from the Council of Ministers. At the same time, on September 23, 2015, Henley & Partners, acting on behalf of its client Joe Taek Lowe, bought an unfinished villa in the Limnara area of Ayia Napa for the amount of 5 million euros. The villa according to our information is completed and will be delivered to him within the next two months.
Joe's business lifestyle
Lowe's first major deal was the purchase of Kuwait Finance House in 2006 for $ 87 million based in a luxury apartment building in Kuala Lumpur;
According to The New York Times, "by 2007, Lowe had formed an investment group involving a Malaysian prince, a Kuwaiti sheikh and a friend from the United Arab Emirates who later became ambassador to the United States and Mexico."
By 2010, his family, with a vehicle owned by Jynwel Capital, had developed relationships with some of the largest state-owned investment funds in the world, including Mubadala Development Co. and the Kuwait Investment Authority in Abu Dhabi. ·
Jynwel is linked to deals such as the $ 660 million acquisition of the Park Lane Hotel in New York, and the $ 2012 billion acquisition of EMI in 2,2. He even tried unsuccessfully to buy Reebok from Adidas AG in October 2014.
Lowe also entered the public eye after taking on the role of consultant for Red Granite Pictures, a Hollywood production company that released the films Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber.
In the process, problems arose with people of the show. In June 2017, Australian Miranda Kerr handed over to the American justice jewelry worth 8,1 million dollars that she had received as a gift and which are allegedly related to the corruption scandal of the Malaysian Superfund. The 34-year-old supermodel claimed to have taken the jewelry from Joe Lowe and handed it over to federal police in Los Angeles.
In mid-June 2017, actor Leonardo DiCaprio handed over to the American authorities various gifts he had received from Lowe, mainly an Oscar awarded to Marlon Brando, a Picasso painting worth $ 3,2 million and a collage of Basque! Also in Malaysia and New York, where Lowe spent much of his time, he gained a regular presence in secular columns and became friends with celebrities such as Paris Hilton. 2 INSERTS 1. Mr. Joe Lowe came to Cyprus on September 18, 2015 and through an express procedure in two days received his passport through an exceptional procedure approved by the Council of Ministers. At the same time, on September 23, 2015, Henley & Partners, acting on behalf of its client Joe Taek Low, bought a luxury villa in Ayia Napa for the amount of 5 million euros2. In June 2017, Australian Miranda Kerr handed over to the American justice jewelry worth 8,1 million dollars that she had received as a gift and which are allegedly related to the corruption scandal of the Malaysian Superfund. The 34-year-old supermodel then claimed to have taken the jewelry from Joe Lowe and handed it over to federal police in Los Angeles.
Source: CITIZEN