Investigations on Justo will establish the truth over 1MDB issue

KUALA LUMPUR: Ongoing investigations on a former PetroSaudi International (PSI) Ltd executive, Xavier Justo, will establish the truth over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue, said a Malaymail report, quoting a source.
An article by Datuk Wong Sai Wan quoted a source as saying that Malaysians had been shocked to learn that the allegations on the 1MDB on The Sarawak Report portal appeared to be based on a deliberate series of creative alterations of the data in order to smear 1MDB, PetroSaudi and others.
However, the source was quoted as saying it had not been established who was behind these alterations, adding that whoever it was, knew what he or she was doing.
"For now, the political row over the allegations was being tampered by the realisation made by The Sarawak Report that was based on one source – Justo, whose credibility was now doubtful," according to the source as quoted by the article in the tabloid.
The page three article, headlined When The Disgruntled Turn Nasty, said the suspected blackmailer Xavier Justo's arrest highlighted how greedy former and current employees could pose a major threat to a company's digital security.

In the article, a cyber security expert said that Justo, arrested for crimes committed in Thailand, and under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Metropolitan Police in London for other crimes committed in the UK, was a classic example of how the biggest threat to a company's reputation could be from the "enemy within".
"In addition, we understand that civil proceedings have commenced against Justo in Switzerland and that a police report has been lodged in Malaysia by former PKR leader Ng Lum Yong against Malaysian publications The Edge and The Malaysian Insider as they published articles based on the 'forged documents' by Justo," the earlier source said according to the article.
Several newspapers reported last Wednesday that Justo was arrested by Thai police for allegely blackmailing and extorting PetroSaudi, as was reported by the media in Thailand and the company.
On the same day, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he was informed that Justo was the individual responsible for distributing inaccurate information to the Sarawak Report blog, triggering numerous unfounded allegations against 1MDB.
Ahmad Zahid was also reported as saying that his ministry was also made to understand that data set stolen was incomplete as it had undergone a professional editing process after it was taken from the PetroSaudi system with the bad intention to attack and destroy the image of a certain individual.

PetroSaudi, an international oil and gas industry company based in Saudi Arabia attracted attention in Malaysia following its previous cooperation with 1MDB.
The article further said that maybe Justo, who is now under detention in Bangkok, Thailand, regrets his behaviour.
"But what he cannot undo is the last few months of unfounded accusations and vile abuse against the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, PetroSaudi and various political figures."
The article said the Thai police were now investigating how, after leaving the company, Justo allegedly issued a series of written blackmail demands for an additional payment of 2.5 million Swiss francs (RM10.1 million) on top of his agreed severance pay; also reported to be worth several million Swiss francs.
The article said PetroSaudi did not meet Justo's demands as they knew they had done nothing wrong and it was reasonable, however, that they did not want their confidential and proprietary information made public.
The writer said Justo went silent for 18 months until suddenly allegedly doctored versions of internal company communications started to appear on the The Sarawak Report, sparking a political row implicating the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB and high-profile figures.
"Malaysian politics is hard-fought at the best of times, and now PetroSaudi has found itself at the centre of a row that appears to threaten the stability of the country's government as well as their own reputation," he said in the article.
In the article, a senior official of the Protection Group International's (PGI) questioned if Justo believed he had irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing, then why did he simply not take his case to the authorities who dealt with such matters, in any part of the United Kingdom (UK), Malaysia or Switzerland.
He further pointed out that in PetroSaudi's case, it was not a matter of saving a few personal emails, a contact list or personal photographs, which most leavers would reasonably do.
"Instead, it was purportedly a concerted effort to remove a large number of files that were purely corporate in nature. This was material, which could have no reasonably legitimate purpose once employment with a company has terminated," he said.

PGI is an internationally renowned cyber-security company which examined a number of devices from PetroSaudi's data holdings to discover how Justo allegedly downloaded and removed a wide variety of internal communications and documents from PetroSaudi's IT systems.
The article pointed out that PGI and its staff had specialist experience; not just in the field of forensic analysis, but all strands of cyber security, investigation and training and many PGI staff members had served in UK government service requiring the highest level of security clearance and integrity.
According to the PGI senior official who explained how they investigated data to get to the truth, all PGI's forensic investigations were conducted to UK Association of Chief Police Officer standards.
"This means from the very point of engagement, PGI Cyber conducts its forensic analysis entirely in line with those standards," he said.
He said the two officers who led this investigation had, between them, conducted over 1,000 digital forensic cases, including testifying in courts of law.
Another cyber security expert said PetroSaudi had robust policies and measures in place to ensure a high level of IT security but had not planned for an insider determined to break agreements and misrepresent records.
"The problem began, although they did not know it, even before Xavier Justo left the company. He was already plotting a sting," he said. – Bernama