Journalist Leslie Lopez, a veteran of Reuters, Business Times, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Straits Times, The Edge Review and more, digs into the archives to tell the grimy details of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal that rocked the world, and led to the downfall of the coalition that ruled Malaysia for six decades and prime minister Najib Razak sentenced to jail.

After Najib’s landmark corruption charges, more details began to be unearthed on how one of the world’s largest financial scandal involving the highest echelons of power remained unseen to so many for so long. Lopez tells the story of how the 1MDB scam was hatched and executed, from its beginning as the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) sovereign wealth fund.

Lopez also shows how former longtime PM Mahathir Mohamad crafted the very system that eventually allowed such a heist to take place, and later returned to power to oversee the prosecution of Najib’s crimes, as well as the other figures mired in the mess, including former Bank Negara governor Zeti Aziz, bankers and money men around the world, and of course, the infamous ‘Man on the Run’, Jho Low.

The Siege Within is available for pre-order on the Penguin Random House SEA site and major bookstores, including Lit Books, Kinokuniya, MPH and Popular.

Details

The Siege Within

Leslie Lopez
2024
Penguin Random House SEA