Unsavoury company!

Star Online - Former Petrosaudi exec Xavier Justo meets Dr Mahathir (extracts):

PETALING JAYA: Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo, a former Petrosaudi International official met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday (May 20).

He posted a photograph of himself with Dr Mahathir on Facebook and expressed his awe at meeting the Prime Minister.

"What a great privilege and what an incredible moment!" he wrote.

Justo is a key figure in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case and was said to have shared information on 1MDB with Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

It's a shame the Star Online has been reluctant to tell us who exactly Xavier Andre Justo is.

Justo was a convicted blackmailer but has since been 'royally' pardoned by HM the King of Thailand.

Justo was found guilty in 2015 by a Thai court of blackmailing his former employer which was involved in a now-aborted deal with 1MDB. He allegedly leaked details that led to claims that billions of ringgit were misappropriated at 1MDB.

NST reported:

It was then that he was offered a way to get his career back on track in the form of an executive administration role for a Saudi oil company, PetroSaudi International.

Among other things, he was given responsibility for the information technology (IT) function, a trust that, according to the Thai police charges, would later be betrayed.

It is understood that Justo lost his job for unreliability, but it has been reported by the Thai police that he nonetheless received a substantial settlement payment under the terms of an exit agreement.

Although the NST has not seen a copy of this agreement, strict confidentiality and a requirement to return all company property and data is invariably a standard feature of any exit agreement.

But, evidently, Justo was not satisfied, perhaps realising it would not fund the lifestyle he planned in Thailand forever.

As head of IT, he used his privileged access to the company’s computer systems to copy emails and documents with a view to selling them to the highest bidder if his funds ran low.

With his Thai ventures stalled and no prospect of other income, Justo resorted to a crude blackmail and extortion attempt, threatening to sell what he had to unnamed buyers unless the company paid him off. Justo’s written demands for cash, now in the hands of the Thai police, clearly demonstrate he was not motivated by any form of altruism.

The figure of 2.5 million Swiss Francs (RM10 million) has been widely reported. But the company did not pay him a single Swiss Franc in response to his crude attempt at extortion.

As a consequence, Justo sought other avenues to place his stolen bounty and the Sarawak Report duly obliged. This has been confirmed by independent IT experts Protection Group International (PGI) and also by Sarawak Report’s editor, Clare Rewcastle Brown.

In her story published yesterday titled “Open Letter to the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern”, Rewcastle Brown sought to defend Justo, and made an unprecedented and unprovoked attack on the Thai legal system.

We cannot speculate on her motivations for doing this, but the Thai police have made it clear that they have seized Justo’s computer equipment for further testing; and PGI has confirmed that documents on The Sarawak Report have been creatively altered.

Sirul and now Justo! Hmmm, most unsavoury company.  I wonder why the new PM even wants to stand next to this ex convict?