This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 18, 2026 - May 24, 2026
If Malaysia’s most wanted fugitive, Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low, gets a presidential pardon from US President Donald Trump, it would deliver a major blow to Malaysia.
It would be a slap in the face for the country as a whole and make “the main conspirator” in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal even more immune than he already is.
Jho Low, with former Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, caused 1MDB to accumulate debts of more than RM40 billion, a chunk of which went into their pockets and the coffers of their co-conspirators. The fiasco caused a split in Umno and led to the party losing control of the government.
American investigators estimate that more than US$4.5 billion (about RM17.8 billion) was siphoned out of 1MDB to pay bribes to government officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as bankers. The money was also used to fund Jho Low’s spending spree that included throwing lavish parties, buying expensive artworks and real estate and financing a film produced by Najib’s stepson.
Jho Low has evaded the Malaysian police since 2018. He is believed to be in China, a country that entered into several billion-ringgit deals with Malaysia when Najib was the prime minister.
The cost of the deals, which included incomplete gas pipelines and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), was inflated at the expense of the Malaysian taxpayer.
The murky costing of the deals that Jho Low brought to the table is said to be the key reason he remains in China.
In 2018, Jho Low and two Goldman Sachs bankers — Roger Ng and Tim Leissner — were charged in the US with defrauding 1MDB of more than US$2.7 billion. Both Ng and Leissner have been sentenced and Leissner is in prison in the US. Jho Low, however, has continued to evade the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Trump, in his second term as president, has made extensive use of his powers to pardon controversial financial operators. The presidential pardon process has been turned into a multimillion-dollar lobbying machine benefiting lobbyists close to Trump.
Among those who have been pardoned in Trump’s second term are Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng and Ross Ulbricht. The latter operated a marketplace on the dark web that dealt with drugs and everything illegal.
If Jho Low succeeds in getting a presidential pardon, it will lead to many things that will have an impact on Malaysia and its political balance, especially at Umno, which is a key partner in the Anwar administration.
Firstly, a presidential pardon will effectively free Jho Low and his band of thieves from the clutches of the US legal system. They would be able to travel outside China without the fear of being detained and cannot be easily extradited to Malaysia.
They can also use the banking system outside China without having to worry that their accounts and assets will be frozen.
Jho Low can even conduct businesses from Thailand, where he was holed up for quite some time after he left this country in 2015, which was just before The Edge and Sarawak Report exposed the 1MDB scandal.
It would be a big blow for Malaysia, especially the police force’s efforts to nab Jho Low. The chances of him being brought back to face charges would diminish significantly.
Secondly, a presidential pardon would inevitably put pressure on the current government and Umno to give leeway to Najib regarding his jail sentence. The former prime minister is serving a shortened six-year jail sentence for crimes related to SRC International. That is due to end in 2028, after which he will continue his second jail term of 15 years that was imposed on him in December last year.
If Najib fails in his appeal on the second case, which is for abuse of power and corruption relating to 1MDB, and does not get a pardon, he will only be out of jail close to 2040.
Already, not many believe Najib will serve out his full sentence. It has been reported that the former prime minister is seeking to serve the remainder of his term at home.
Umno is a crucial partner in the Pakatan Harapan coalition and is among the parties ruling the country until the next general election.
Assuming Jho Low becomes a free man, wouldn’t the pressure build on Umno and its president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to get some leniency for Najib to serve his remaining sentence for crimes related to 1MDB?
Finally, a presidential pardon for Jho Low will send the wrong message. It would mean a person can embezzle billions and go free without spending a single day in prison.
A presidential pardon for Jho Low would make the concession given to Najib by the former King in February 2024 very tame and acceptable, which, in reality, is not.
A presidential pardon will not only be an affront to the Malaysian judiciary, which is finally seeing some level of independence but the work of investigators, prosecutors and judges who made brave and fair decisions will also go to waste.
Malaysia was the epicentre of the 1MDB fiasco. The federal government-sponsored fund raised more than RM40 billion using government guarantees. Investigators estimate that about US$4.5 billion was siphoned out of 1MDB through schemes that Jho Low put together with bankers and politicians.
Several people in other countries have been sentenced to jail for their role in the financial scandal. They include Leissner and Ng of Goldman Sachs, and bankers and executives of PetroSaudi International. Even a member of the royal family in Kuwait has been imprisoned while Jho Low was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 2023.
A presidential pardon would allow Jho Low to walk away a free man and roam the world without any constraints.
For Malaysians as a whole who are paying off 1MDB’s debts, this would be a great cause for chagrin.
M Shanmugam ([email protected]) is a contributing editor at The Edge
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