MORALLY LEGAL? LEGALLY IMMORAL? IMMORALLY LEGAL? ILLEGALLY MORAL? DANG!

The nightlife scene is abuzz with tales of this international man of mystery — who goes by the name Jho Low and whose chubby, bespectacled appearance hardly meets the image of a wealthy gadabout.
In September, during Fashion Week, sources said, Low helped rack up a $160,000 bar tab at Avenue, including several $900 bottles of Cristal champagne.

One month later, Lindsay Lohan was belatedly celebrating her 23rd birthday at downtown drinking den 1OAK when 23 bottles of Cristal suddenly appeared. They were reportedly paid for by a “mystery Malaysian,” who, sources claim, was Low.

At chic 27th Street hangout Pink Elephant, Low routinely spends $50,000 to $60,000, according to the club’s owner, David Sarner. One night, at the Pink Elephant outpost in Southampton, Low enjoyed himself so much that he kept the revelry going — all the way to Malaysia, Sarner said.
“He ended up flying eight of our [waitresses] to Malaysia for a party,” he added.

 Strangely, for a man attracting so much attention, very little is known about Low.
According to his official biography, he currently serves as a group adviser of several international corporations and was appointed to the board of UBG Berhad, a financial-services group in Kuala Lumpur, last year.

But when The Post interviewed Malaysian experts at such think tank as the Council on Foreign Relations, no one had ever heard of Low.

According to inside sources, Low lives at a $100,000-a-month apartment in the Park Imperial, on West 56th Street, home to James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs — and he won’t go anywhere, not even on the elevator, without at least one bodyguard.
Some of Low’s entourage of eight to 12 people also reside in two other apartments at the Park Imperial — a $30,000-a-month pad and a 2,200-square-foot loft with Central Park views that costs $20,000 a month, according to real-estate investor Michael Hirtenstein, who used to live in the latter.

Who then is this young Big Spender?

The New York Post links Low Taek Jho, who studied in Wharton, to UBG Bhd, a listed firm.

Curious, I looked up the UBG Annual Report for 2008 and found that there is a 27-year-old group advisor/non-independent non-executive director by that name. “He currently serves as group advisor of several international corporations, involved in global private equity, mergers and acquisitions, buyout, government-togovernment offset structured investments and financing, networking and financial aid, amongst others.”

Must be some 27-year-old. Check out his ’stock pick’ from 2000.

Low is a representative of Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd and Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corporation (ADKM), a 53 per cent shareholder of UBG.

UBG, whose chairman is Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib (son of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud), has acquired a couple of CMS companies in Sarawak.

Apart from this, UBG also has an 86 per cent stake in Putrajaya Perdana Bhd and an 80 per cent interest in Loh and Loh Corp.

Putrajaya Perdana Bhd is a property development and construction firm and UBG is obviously hoping that PPB will open new doors for the group. Over the last year, PPB has opened branch offices in Abu Dhabi, Kuching and in the Iskandar Malaysia region.

And why would ADKM and UBG be interested in Loh and Loh Corp?
Simple. Big money projects are in the (water) pipeline. Notice that Loh and Loh are involved in dams and water infrastructure.


The Star reports:
Loh & Loh has vast experience in building dams and other water-related infrastructure in Malaysia over the past 30 years. The company runs its water and waste-water mechanical and electrical engineering services through Water Engineering Technology Sdn Bhd.

The Government has budgeted billions of ringgit for water and sewerage jobs under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

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A few of us  here, plus Alan, Colin, Jane, Susy and her mother in PD has been collecting beer caps in an effort to send these to Thailand to be turned into prosthetic for the less fortunate amongst us like this little girl…..if she has not been fitted with a prosthetic yet.

Meanwhile,  48-year-old Thai elephant who stepped on a landmine 10 years ago got fitted for permanent artificial leg today, the AP reports. Motola, who's become a cause celebré for the plight of elephants worldwide, got measured for the new limb at an elephant hospital in Thailand. Until now she’s been walking on a temporary canvas leg.

 

So Jho Low, bring the Pink Elephant Waitresses over, we will have a razzmatazz of a charity drive for the less fortunate……whilst we wait, we will continue to collect beer caps. YES WE CAN, YES WE WILL!

 

MORE HERE ON JHO LOW