A Heist Like No Other

Former Malaysian PM, Najib Razak, is in jail on corruption charges. At least some of those charges relate to what is known as the 1MDB scandal. Tim Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs star who led its investment banking business in Asia, is facing charges in Malaysia that could put him behind bars for up to 10 years. Meanwhile, the man at the centre of l'affaire 1MDB, Low Taek Jho (known as Low Jho), is a fugitive who releases statements through his lawyers from time to time on his website. The Malaysian government is hunting for him, and so is the US government, and currently, there are rumours that he is hiding somewhere in Macau.

1MDB, or 1Malaysia Develop-ment Berhad, is supposed to be a sort of sovereign fund, a company wholly owned by Malaysia's finance ministry. It started with the Malaysian government's money, and raised many more billions as debt, with the help of Goldman Sachs. It was supposed to invest in high-class assets - in Malaysia and globally - and earn a rich profit for the government.

Instead, the Malaysian government is still trying to figure out how much of the money raised was diverted and spent on parties, private assets and high living by Low besides kickbacks to UMNO (the political party led by Razak) and Razak's personal account, which fuelled the luxurious lifestyle of his wife - Rosmah Mansor - and her shopping sprees. (The Malaysian police raided their place and seized 567 luxury handbags, 423 watches, 14 tiaras, boxes of jewellery and so much cash that it took three days to count, apart from getting details of property worth hundreds of millions, several hundred thousand dollars worth of anti-ageing products for Rosmah, and other stuff.) At last count, the total amount diverted from 1MDB was more than $4.5 billion, and the final tally could be more.

At the centre of it all - and the protagonist of Billion Dollar Whale - is Low Jho, a young financier (or conman, whichever term you prefer) who lived the obscene life, throwing parties filled with hip-hop dancers, actors (including Leonardo DiCaprio and his gang), Paris Hilton and others. Many a time, he passed himself off as Malaysian royalty, a confidante of the princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and a top-notch dealmaker. He did not hold an official position in 1MDB but used its money as his own, diverting much of it to his privately held companies and also to the UMNO and Razak's accounts.

Although 1MDB has Razak's blessings and official stamp of approval, he was probably as much a dupe as the rest of Low's partners. Low was the guy who did the deals, moved the money and spent it as he pleased, trying to play a complicated game where he transferred money to partners and the Malaysian government to give them the impression that all was well even as he siphoned off record amounts.

Using shell companies and tax havens, he shifted money around, finding weak bankers who would not look too hard at the provenance of the money, while he bought a mega yacht (since seized), apartments in New York and other places, and even produced The Wolf of Wall Street. The only person who spotted him as a conman early on was Jordan Belfort, on whose life The Wolf of Wall Street is based. However, DiCaprio, who starred as a conman in Catch Me If You Can and The Wolf of Wall Street, was completely unaware.

Billion Dollar Whale is fascinating to read. It is a brilliant reporting job by the authors - who are reporters of The Wall Street Journal - and gives a peek into the con of the century. Apart from painting the obscene and eye-popping lifestyle of many, the story fleshes out the audacity of the operations masterminded by Low.

Son of a Malaysian multimillionaire, Low wanted to be richer from an early age. In school in the UK, he had seen how his lifestyle contrasted with some of his classmates, mostly rich princes from the Middle East, who would be picked up in Rolls Royces during weekends and who blew up fortunes without thinking twice about it. His genius lay in selling dreams to the highest levels in different governments, especially in Malaysia, which believed he had unparalleled access to the royal families in the Middle East (in truth, Low had largely networked with minor princes who did not have much wealth or clout), bankers, lawyers and even the Obamas.

This is a riveting read - about greed, power and the lifestyles of the rich and the famous and the corrupt.