Kuala lumpur: The High Court here today ordered Eric Tan Kim Loong, an associate of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, to pay a total of USDollar2.8 billion to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and its four subsidiaries. Judge Mahazan Mat Taib, who granted the judgment in default, also ordered Jho Low's sister, Low May Lin, to pay USDollar809,319 to the sovereign wealth fund.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, in 2021, 1MDB and its four subsidiaries -- 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited, 1MDB Energy Limited, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited, and Global Diversified Investment Company Limited (formerly known as 1MDB Global Investments Limited) -- filed the suit against the duo. Judge Mahazan declared that both defendants were constructive trustees of 1MDB for the sums they had received and that they were liable to return all sums deemed secret profits obtained in fraud of the plaintiffs.

"Thus, costs of RM500,000 are to be paid jointly and severally by both defendants to the plaintiffs," she said. The judge also ruled that the documentary evidence demonstrates that Eric Tan was the beneficial owner of the Alsen Chance and Blackstone accounts, where these accounts received significant flows of money wrongly diverted from 1MDB, amounting to USDollar2,795,333,000.

Eric Tan is a known close associate of Jho Low and served as an essential conduit in the laundering and layering of the stolen funds. The nature, magnitude, and pattern of the transfers render any assertion of innocent receipt wholly implausible. The evidence further shows that May Lin received USDollar809,319 directly into her personal account through four transfers from Jho Low's father, Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng.

These transfers were gratuitous, lacked any commercial rationale, and originated from funds misappropriated via the Good Star Limited structure. As the sister of Jho Low, her role as a personal beneficiary of siphoned funds fits squarely within the wider pattern of family-based concealment, said the judge.

A total of three witnesses testified during the one-day unopposed full trial held last Oct 6 against the duo. Both defendants were duly served with all cause papers but failed to enter an appearance, file any pleading, or attend trial.