The Justice Department arrested former Goldman Sachs banker Ng Chong Hwa in Malaysia on Thursday, and unsealed charges against Tim Leissner, another ex-Goldman banker, who has already pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $43.7 million in restitution of ill-gotten gains.

Both men were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Justice Department also announced criminal charges against Low Taek Jho, an alleged mastermind and an intermediary to the Malaysian fund. US officials say he remains at large.

Goldman Sachs itself was not charged.

These are the first US criminal charges in the case which spawned investigations around the world.

– Conspiring to launder billions –

The 1MDB scandal has had a major impact in Malaysia, with allegations of involvement of top officials contributing to the downfall of the long-ruling coalition at elections in May.

Former prime minister Najib Razak has since been arrested and charged over the scandal. He denies any wrongdoing.

The men were charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars from 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, a sovereign wealth fund set up for development of the country, and conspiring to bribe officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Low, in a statement through his spokesman, maintained his innocence.

“Mr. Low simply asks that the public keep an open mind regarding this case until all of the evidence comes to light, which he believes will vindicate him,” it said.

Ng was also indicted for conspiring to violate the internal controls at Goldman Sachs, which underwrote about $6.5 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB, the US government said.

The funds were intended “for the benefit of the Malaysian people” but more than $2.7 billion went to kickbacks and bribes, according to the charges.

Goldman Sachs, which garnered $600 million in fees and revenues from three 1MDB bond transactions detailed in the indictments, has said previously it has received subpoenas and requests for information on the case from various governments and regulatory bodies.

Goldman Sachs, which said it is cooperating in the probe, was not named in the DOJ criminal documents, but was referred to as “financial institution #1.”

The DOJ said Ng and Leissner repeatedly circumvented Goldman’s oversight tools for countering fraud, adding that the “business culture” at the firm, “particularly in Southeast Asia, was highly focused on consummating deals.”

The documents refer to a third unnamed Goldman official who is an Italian national. The banker, Andrea Vella, was put on leave in October, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Hiding Low’s involvement

Under one scheme involving a 2012 “Project Magnolia” bond offering by 1MDB, Low allegedly told the ex-Goldman bankers they needed to bribe officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to guarantee that the transaction went through.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes were subsequently paid to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. After the bond transaction was executed, more than $500 million of the bond proceeds were misappropriated into shell companies controlled by Low, Leissner, Ng and other co-conspirators, the government alleged.

Some of the funds went to finance the movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a 2013 Oscar-nominated film about Jordan Belfort, a corrupt stockbroker who was sent to prison for fraud, the government said.

Ng and Leissner’s efforts in the scheme dated to 2009, when they began cultivating a relationship with Low, who allegedly “worked as an intermediary in relation to 1MDB and other foreign government officials” but did not hold a formal position at 1MDB and was never employed by the government.

Ng, a managing director at Goldman, and Leissner, who worked as Southeast Asia chairman and managing director at Goldman, sought on three occasions to make Low a formal client, but were rebuffed because officials in the compliance group had “concerns” about the source of the person’s wealth and deemed he would not be a “suitable” client.

As the bond offerings proceeded, the two men concealed Low’s involvement from Goldman Sachs officials.

Leissner is free on a $20 million bond and pleaded guilty before a US judge in August, in Brooklyn Federal Court. He is cooperating with DOJ investigators, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Lawyers for Leissner did not respond to requests for comment. Low is represented by Marc Kasowitz, an attorney who has formerly represented US President Donald Trump, a DOJ spokesman said.

The incident came a day after another Japanese carrier apologised for multiple delays after a hungover pilot called in sick.

JAL executives told reporters in Japan that the co-pilot cleared an in-house breath test but aroused the suspicion of a bus driver taking him to the plane at Heathrow Airport on Sunday.

The co-pilot, identified as Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, 42, was arrested by British police and required to undergo a blood test that confirmed those results.

He had reportedly consumed two bottles of wine and more than 1.8 litres (nearly four US pints) of beer over six hours on the night before the flight.

“We are certain (the in-house breath test) wasn’t conducted properly,” JAL communications chief Muneaki Kitahara told reporters Thursday.

A spokesman for the London police said a test on the co-pilot taken 50 minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure revealed 189 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his system — almost 10 times the 20-milligram limit for a pilot.

The drink-drive limit in England is 80 milligrams.

The pilot later pleaded guilty before a court to being over the legal limit, and is expected to be sentenced on November 29.

The plane departed London after a delay of 69 minutes.

“The company sincerely apologises to the passengers and to all affected by the employee’s actions,” JAL said in a press release.

The incident came just a day after All Nippon Airways revealed a hung-over pilot had caused multiple flight delays.

The male pilot in his 40s called in sick after a night of drinking on the remote resort island of Ishigaki in southern Okinawa prefecture, the company said.

The last-minute sickie forced the airline to delay five flights linking Okinawa island and smaller regional islands, affecting 619 passengers.

Following the two incidents, the transport ministry urged airline companies to strictly comply with rules on drinking.

But under Japan’s current system, while plane crew members are banned from drinking within eight hours of working, there is no legal limit set and breath tests are not required.

Airlines have their own regulations, with JAL saying its rules banned pilots from drinking 12 hours before flying — a limit they now said would be pushed back to 24 hours.

The airline will now also involve airport staff in alcohol checks rather than allowing pilots to test each other, Kyodo news agency reported.

Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii on Friday told reporters that the government would look into tightening the rules on drinking by flight crews.

“We will use all possible means to ensure flight safety,” local media quoted him as saying.

He reportedly said Tokyo would study rules in other countries to determine best practices.

Accompanying Her Royal Highness was Charge d’Affaires at the Royal Thai Embassy in Brunei Darussalam Rooge Thammongkol.

Also present at the audience ceremony was Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) Major General Pengiran Dato Paduka Seri Aminan bin Pengiran Haji Mahmud.

The audience ceremony was held at the Istana Nurul Iman.

South Korea ranked 60th.

A total of 146 countries in the world were ranked in three areas: Giving of time, money and helping a stranger. More than 150,000 people worldwide were polled.

JAL executives told reporters that the co-pilot cleared an in-house breath test but aroused the suspicion of a bus driver taking him to the plane from Heathrow airport on Sunday.

After a second breath test before takeoff showed that he had consumed “excessive alcohol”, the co-pilot was arrested by British police and required to undergo a blood test which confirmed those results, the company said in a press release.

“We are certain (the in-house breath test) wasn’t conducted properly,”  Muneaki Kitahara, JAL’s head of communications, told a press conference.

    The plane departed London after a delay of one hour and 9 minutes.

“The company sincerely apologises to the passengers and to all affected by the employee’s actions,” JAL said in the press release.

The incident comes only a day after All Nippon Airways revealed a hung-over pilot had caused multiple flight delays.

The male pilot in his 40s called in sick after a night of drinking on the remote resort island of Ishigaki in southern Okinawa prefecture, the company said.

The last-minute sickie forced the airline to delay five flights linking Okinawa island and smaller regional islands, affecting 619 passengers.

Following the two incidents, the transport ministry urged airline companies to strictly comply with rules on drinking.

    “I should be dead now, actually,” joked the nonagenarian leader in an interview with AFP Thursday.

The veteran statesman is as sharp and straight-talking as ever, and not one to shy away from offering frank views on controversial issues, including gay rights and anti-Semitism.

But it’s not been an easy ride for Mahathir — who has suffered increasing health problems in recent years — since his ramshackle alliance won a shock victory at May elections and toppled the corruption-plagued regime of Najib Razak.

    Since then, a host of former leaders have been been arrested for corruption, many linked to the novel-worthy political saga around sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which billions of dollars were allegedly looted in a fraud stretching from Singapore to Switzerland.

Aside from the crackdown on corruption, Mahathir is seeking to pay off a $250 billion national debt, and has cancelled a string of costly China-backed mega-projects, risking the ire of the world’s number-two economy.

On top of that, his own coalition is an uneasy alliance.

It was cobbled together as a means of ousting Najib and is packed with politicians who once vehemently opposed him, including former nemesis Anwar Ibrahim, now the presumptive successor to the premiership.

“It is exhausting,” conceded Mahathir.

“This time around I have to do more work than the first time I became prime minister… the whole government machinery has been destroyed almost.”

– Shock victory –

Mahathir’s victory took almost everyone — including his own alliance — by surprise, and amounted to a political earthquake that ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition after six decades in power.

After years of graft scandals and divisive racial politics in the multi-ethnic country, voters finally had enough of BN, with the 1MDB scandal the tipping point for many.

Najib’s fall from grace has been swift. He and his luxury-loving wife Rosmah Mansor have been arrested — Najib has now been hit with a total of 38 corruption charges — and both are likely facing long jail terms.

A stash of cash, jewellery and hundreds of designer handbags worth over $270 million was seized from properties linked to the pair.

Other figures aligned with the previous government, from the central bank chief to the attorney-general, have left their positions, and Mahathir and his team are scrambling to fill big holes in the administration.

“I had to get rid of people who in the past, under the previous government, had… politically been involved with government,” said Mahathir in the interview at the office of a foundation that he heads the in administrative capital Putrajaya.

“A lot of things were spoiled by Najib in his effort to use every institution to ensure his winning the election.”

Adding to his difficulties, Mahathir has risked souring relations with Beijing by cancelling Chinese-financed railway and gas pipelines projects, which were widely viewed as dubious deals struck by Najib as he sought money to pay off debts.

“We just cannot afford it,” Mahathir said of the deals, but insisted relations with China were still good.

  – Succession speculation –

Constant speculation about whether Mahathir will stick to a promise to hand power to Anwar within two years of taking office is also proving a major distraction.

The pair’s stormy relationship has loomed over Malaysian politics ever since Mahathir sacked Anwar, then a powerful deputy premier, in the 1990s, and Anwar was thrown into jail on questionable sodomy and corruption charges.

Following May’s election victory, Anwar was released from jail and pardoned — he had been imprisoned again under Najib’s regime in 2015 — and earlier this month was re-elected to parliament.

Mahathir brushed off the suggestion that Anwar’s return to frontline politics could cause tensions: “I have worked with him before… I have no problem, I can work with everybody.”

Mahathir is enjoying a long honeymoon after Barisan National’s defeat but critics remain concerned about his own authoritarian tendencies.

During his first stint as premier from 1981 to 2003, he was accused of undermining the judiciary and other institutions, the press came under attack and political opponents were thrown in jail.

He remains unapologetic about some of his more controversial views, such as that same-sex marriage is unacceptable in Malaysia, and that Jews are “hook-nosed”.

But as age catches up with him, Mahathir admitted he will have no choice but to relinquish power.

And he insisted he would stick to his pledge to hand power to Anwar: “I have made a promise; I will keep my promise.”

    Mourners nationwide huddled at the tombs of their loved ones, while police at graveyard entrances confiscated karaoke microphones and church leaders urged the faithful to take it easy on the booze.

It is all part of All Saints’ Day, which takes place each year on November 1, when families pray, reminisce and honour those who died for their faith in a tradition that goes back to ancient Rome.

In the capital Manila, Virginia Acasio went with eight of her children and grandchildren to visit the grave of her grandson, Vergel, who died in an accident two years ago, when he was three years old.

    “It is still painful for us,” Acasio, 58, told AFP. “We have to go. It is an obligation. We miss my grandchild so we have to come here on the day of the dead.”

In the capital’s sprawling cemeteries, vendors peddled flowers and candles as well as food, drinks and even toys among the newly-whitewashed tombs to the crowds of families visiting the graves.

The final resting places for many are so-called “apartment” tombs which are stacked one on top of the other and can rise metres over the crowds.

With offices, shops and schools closed, dense crowds carrying memorial flowers as well as bags packed with picnic supplies and the occasional bottle of beer queued up outside the cemeteries.

The country’s Catholic bishops conference urged people to avoid “rather inappropriate practices such as gambling, excessive drinking, and the littering of cemeteries and other holy places”.

“Many might have forgotten the significance of these commemorations as seen in the general lack of atmosphere of prayer in the cemeteries,” it said.

The government has also discouraged excessive merry-making with police setting up checkpoints at cemetery gates where they frisked entrants, and piled up seized items like cigarettes, knives, playing cards and barbecue utensils.

The annual pilgrimage to the cemeteries triggers a mass exodus from the capital, with millions traveling back to their home provinces where relatives are buried.

Tens of thousands of police are deployed at bus and boat terminals as well as graveyards across the archipelago nation of more than 105 million people.

The former Swiss banker said he did not know the current whereabouts of Low, also known as Jho Low, but since he was a key figure in a major international investigation, he could be “silenced”.

“For a lot of people, the best solution would be for him to disappear forever,” said Justo, whose life was also threatened when he was in jail in Thailand and told that attempts to extradite him to Malaysia could end in his death.

“I would not be surprised if Jho Low is not seen anymore or is found dead.

“I don’t know where he is. Believe me, if I knew, I would inform the authorities,” added Justo, who met Low twice several years ago when he was working with PetroSaudi.

Speaking exclusively to The Star, Justo said: “I won’t go to China and I cannot go back to Thailand because I have been blacklisted from the kingdom for 100 years.

“I know Thailand is one of Low’s hiding spots.”

Justo added that while Low was believed to have his hands on a lot of cash, he was now a wanted man in several countries and might not have access to many of his assets, the seized yacht Equanimity being an example.

Furthermore, he said Low was addicted to a lavish lifestyle.

“This guy does not have many options. He would be arrested in pretty much any country. I think China is one of his last resorts. It’s also not easy for him to hide.

Not giving up: Justo has expressed his hope that Low will return to Malaysia to face justice.

“These people (Low and his kind) are big spenders. In a hotel, they would take an expensive suite.

“He would not hide forever in a small Cambodian fishing village. I am sure that even now he is living a high life, spending large amounts of money for bottles of wine and nice parties,” he said.

Justo said he would like to see Low return to Malaysia to face justice.

“I don’t wish an unhappy end for the guy in which he is found dead. I think he should be brought to court, but this (Low being killed) is a possible reality,” he said.

Justo is in Kuala Lumpur for the third time since the 14th General Election. He was a key speaker at the Anti-Corruption Summit 2018 organised by Transparency Interna­tional Malaysia.

He is also believed to have arranged some meetings with Mal­aysian authorities and has repeatedly expressed his willingness to testify in 1MDB-related trials.

He told The Star that many Malaysians had shown their support fot him. In one day alone, he posed for hundreds of wefies with Malay­sians.

Recalling his darkest days – a year and a half in prison in Thailand – Justo said he survived inhumane conditions that helped strip him of his ego and centre him more morally.

“I won’t stop the fight for justice against those who put my family and I through so much suffering.

“My son was just eight months old when I was jailed and I missed out on a lot. My wife Laura had an even more difficult time,” Justo said.

He recalled that when he realised a change of government was imminent in Malaysia, he and Laura could not contain their emotions.

“We were following the Malaysian election news in Switzerland and at first Najib’s party was ahead, but slowly they were overtaken.

“When the new coalition under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad reached 112 seats, we couldn’t help it,” he added.

“Both of us cried.”