TTF: Xavier Andre Justo is the man who stole critical data from PetroSaudi, an oil and services company he was once an executive in. He then tried to blackmail his former employers to the tune of millions by threatening to sell the data to third parties. When his bosses lodged a police report against him for theft and extortion, he tried to sell the data to the media for some millions instead.
One of the media correspondents who attempted to get a hold of the data was the Chairman of the Edge Media Group, Dato’ Tong Kooi Ong. The other was Clare Rewcastle Brown, the lady who runs Sarawak Report. In a couple of WhatsApp messages that went viral, a person believed to be Clare made it known that she had the backing of Dr Mahathir Mohamad when attempting to pacify Justo over failed payments.
The ex-PetroSaudi employee was eventually arrested by the Thai police and tried for extortion. The trial led to a three-year jail sentence that Justo began serving before the new King of Thailand granted him a pardon. The fact that he didn’t refuse the pardon amounted to a guilty plea on his part. Yet today, he stands tall alongside Mahathir amid raids on property units purportedly conducted to discover funds stolen from 1MDB.
Now, this is not an attack on Mahathir, no. This is just me asking, “can somebody tell me what’s going on?”
PUTRAJAYA: Convicted former Petrosaudi International employee Xavier Andre Justo met with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here today.
The Swiss citizen was seen leaving the Foundation at 2pm after having an almost hour-long discussion with the Premier.
Justo refused to respond to questions posed by reporters at the scene.
Yesterday, Justo posted a picture of him with the Prime Minister on his Facebook account.
When contacted via Facebook Messenger, Justo said the picture was taken at Dr Mahathir’s private residence at Seri Kembangan during their first meeting on Sunday.
“The meeting took place at 5pm today (Sunday). (It) went on for one-and-a-half hours,” he said.
However, he refused to disclose details of the meeting.
“The meeting was intense and wonderful.
“You can imagine what it was about, but I will not give the details for the moment…” he added.
Justo was sentenced to three years’ jail on Aug 17 after he pleaded guilty to blackmailing his former employer, PetroSaudi International.
On June 22, 2015, he was arrested at his home on Koh Samui island after PetroSaudi officials filed a complaint that Justo had attempted to blackmail the firm for 2.5 million Swiss francs (RM10.9 million) with documents stolen from the company.
However, in Dec 2016, Justo was among thousands of foreign prisoners who were granted a Royal pardon by Thailand’s then-new ruler, King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradeva-rangkun.
Source: NST Online
