Harakahdaily, KUALA LUMPUR, 19 Julai 2010 : Nama Malaysia sekali lagi tercetak dalam media Perancis baru-baru ini apabila seorang ahli perniagaan Malaysia yang rapat dengan pihak berkuasa dikatakan bersama artis barat Paris Hilton ketika beliau ditahan kerana memiliki dadah marijuana.
Menurut AFP, akhbar Perancis, Corse Matin melaporkan Paris Hilton ditahan di lapangan terbang Corsica selepas marijuana yang dibawa dalam bagnya dihidu oleh anjing pengesan. Dalam laporannya, akhbar itu berkata, Hilton sedang mengembara bersama dengan seorang personaliti yang rapat dengan pihak berkuasa di Malaysia ketika beliau ditahan oleh pihak berkuasa. Bagaimanapun beliau dikatakan dilepaskan selepas setengah jam disoalsiasat. Ekoran itu, pelbagai pihak tertanya-tanya siapakah lelaki itu. Hari ini, media melaporkan, lelaki itu adalah Taek Jho Low, seorang ahli perniagaan dari Malaysia yang berjaya mendapat hak untuk membangunkan tapak lapangan terbang TUDM di Sungai Besi. Sebelum ini, Ketua Angkatan Muda PKR, Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin mencabar Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak mendedahkan siapakah orang misteri yang dikatakan rapat dengan anak dan isteri beliau, Datin Seri Rosmah mansor. Shamsul mencabar perkara itu di Kota Bharu semasa Kongres PKR yang diadakan di sana bulan lalu. Menurut Shamsul, Jho Low telah berjaya mendapatkan kontrak untuk membangunkan semula TUDM dengan nilai RM500 juta. Bagi Shamsul, dakwaan ini sangat serius kerana cara hidup Jho Low di luar negara sangat meragukan. http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27684:ahli-perniagaan-dikaitkan-dengan-pm-bersama-paris-hilton&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50 Siapa Taek Jho Low? AMK Mahu Dia Disiasat Ketua pemuda PKR (AMK) Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin menggesa supaya seorang pemuda Malaysia yang dilaporkan sering berbelanja mewah di luar negara disiasat. Pemuda tersebut, Taek Jho Low sebelum ini mencuri perhatian apabila dilaporkan oleh akhbar New York Post sebagai rakyat Malaysia yang berbelanja ratusan ribu ringgit untuk mendampingi selebriti Hollywood. Mengikut New York Times, Jho Low didakwa membelanjakan AS$50,000 semalaman untuk berhibur dan menghadiahkan 200 botol arak berjenama bernilai AS$1,000 sebotol kepada pelakon Hollywood, Megan Fox. Shamsul Iskandar mendakwa beliau menerima maklumat bahawa pemuda berkenaan juga berhubungan akrab dengan seorang daripada anak kepada perdana menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Bercakap ketika menyampaikan ucapan dasarnya di kongres AMK di Kota Bharu hari ini, beliau meminta siasatan sama ada Jho Low adalah individu yang terlibat dalam pembangunan komersil tanah lapangan terbaang Sungai Besi milik Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) di Kuala Lumpur. “Tolong siasat, anak muda ini berbelanja sakan, apa kaitannya dengan Malaysia. Apa kaitannya dengan Big Ma?,” soalnya. Beliau berkata, Najib dan isterinya, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor perlu memberi penjelasan berikutan lelaki berusia 28 tahun itu memiliki kekayaan melimpah ruah hingga berita kekayaan Jho Low dikaitkan dengan keluarga Perdana Menteri. Dalam ucapannya itu, Shamsul Iskandar juga mahu siasatan dijalankan ke atas bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad atas dakwaan penyelewengan wang, seperti yang didedahkan penulis Barry Wain. Selain itu, beliau turut mendesak supaya ‘Private Khairy Jamaluddin’ disiasat berhubung kaitan ketua pemuda Umno itu dengan firma perundingan Apco. “Kerana maklumat yang kita terima, rakan baik (Khairy) yang beri cadangan supaya guna Apco,” katanya lagi. Dalam sidang medianya selepas itu, Shamsul Iskandar mendakwa Taek Jho Low juga merupakan seorang penasihat bagi pihak berkuasa pelaburan bagi negeri Terengganu yang kini dikenali sebagai 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Katanya, maklumat itu diperolehinya daripada pihak yang tidak senang dengan perkembangan berkenaan. Tambahnya, beliau pasti Jho Low mempunyai harta bernilai berbilion ringgit jika mampu berbelanja sebanyak 50 hingga 60 ribu setiap malam dan tinggal di apartmen mewah. “Saya minta (Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia) SPRM supaya siasat,” katanya yang mempertikaikan bagaimana seorang pemuda seperti Jho Low mampu berbelanja seperti itu. http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2010/05/28/siapa-taek-jho-low-amk-mahu-dia-disiasat/ Big-spending Malaysian is the mystery man of city club scene By JENNIFER GOULD KEIL and BRIAN NIEMIETZ Last Updated: 9:16 PM, November 8, 2009 A fleet of black Cadillac Escalades hums outside Chelsea hot spot Avenue -- the A-list watering hole of such celebrities as Justin Timberlake and Lindsay Lohan. As the car doors open, a dozen men emerge and a bouncer whisks them over the club's threshold, past a group of shivering models behind the velvet rope. "Who is it?" one of them wonders out loud. "Is it P. Diddy?" But the man at the center of the entourage isn't a celebrity. He isn't even a mogul. He's Taek Jho Low, a 20-something Wharton grad from Malaysia who has burned through hundreds of thousands of dollars at the city's hottest nightspots in the last three months -- and shows no signs of stopping. The nightlife scene is abuzz with tales of this international man of mystery -- who goes by the name Jho Low and whose chubby, bespectacled appearance hardly meets the image of a wealthy gadabout. In September, during Fashion Week, sources said, Low helped rack up a $160,000 bar tab at Avenue, including several $900 bottles of Cristal champagne. One month later, Lindsay Lohan was belatedly celebrating her 23rd birthday at downtown drinking den 1OAK when 23 bottles of Cristal suddenly appeared. They were reportedly paid for by a "mystery Malaysian," who, sources claim, was Low. At chic 27th Street hangout Pink Elephant, Low routinely spends $50,000 to $60,000, according to the club's owner, David Sarner. One night, at the Pink Elephant outpost in Southampton, Low enjoyed himself so much that he kept the revelry going -- all the way to Malaysia, Sarner said. "He ended up flying eight of our [waitresses] to Malaysia for a party," he added. Strangely, for a man attracting so much attention, very little is known about Low. According to his official biography, he currently serves as a group adviser of several international corporations and was appointed to the board of UBG Berhad, a financial-services group in Kuala Lumpur, last year. But when The Post interviewed Malaysian experts at such think tank as the Council on Foreign Relations, no one had ever heard of Low. According to inside sources, Low lives at a $100,000-a-month apartment in the Park Imperial, on West 56th Street, home to James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs -- and he won't go anywhere, not even on the elevator, without at least one bodyguard. Some of Low's entourage of eight to 12 people also reside in two other apartments at the Park Imperial -- a $30,000-a-month pad and a 2,200-square-foot loft with Central Park views that costs $20,000 a month, according to real-estate investor Michael Hirtenstein, who used to live in the latter. "It used to be that when you saw the Cadillac Escalades outside, you knew Sean [Combs] was in town. Now it's this guy," said one amused neighbor. Speculation is brewing over where Low is getting his money from. One inside observer said, "Nobody spends their own money like that. It's just weird." Low did not respond to e-mails for comment, and his spokesman David Tan refused to reveal his boss' birthday or background. "Mr. Low is currently in the USA for holiday and has on several occasions stayed in New York City with his friend[s]," Tan said via e-mail. "He, however, has not rented any property or purchased any property in New York City. Mr. Low did not spend $160,000 at Avenue on one night during Fashion Week." Indeed, Low's name is not attached to the real-estate deals sources say he is involved in. A spokesperson for Avenue confirmed Low helped rack up a $160,000 bill in September but added: "The tab was picked up by a friend of [Low's] from Kuwait." That friend is international man about town Hamad Alwazzan, who also lives at the Park Imperial, according to an e-mail he sent to The Post. In the e-mail, Alwazzan claims it is he, not Low, who's the big spender in town. "I have been on holiday in New York since August 2009 and grown quite fond of the city," Alwazzan wrote. "I am especially fond of investment opportunities in real estate, as well as the food, quality of life, and lifestyle." As for the $160,000 bar tab, he wrote: "[It] was to celebrate the engagement of a close personal friend to his longtime girlfriend, which was jointly hosted by myself and 19 other close friends. I don't have an exact breakdown of the cost, but it was a mixture of entertainment, food and drinks -- and it happened to be during Fashion Week." But while Low clearly prefers to stay under the radar, he is splurging at a rate that's getting noticed all over the city. According to an inside source, Low recently bought at least six exclusive memberships, for $300,000, at an upscale club in Midtown. And just this month, sources said, Low celebrated his birthday at a lavish bash in Las Vegas -- where Megan Fox was reportedly flown in to party with him and his entourage. The actress' Fox's publicist could not be reached for comment yesterday. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/item_Fu1amZaRx9MOMsr9HCIOzK
