FOREIGN POLICY/UAE: “Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the U.S., is a high-profile power player in Washington, trying to shape American policy toward the Middle East and lobbying over a regional dispute with Qatar.
He’s also being drawn deeper into a major global corruption scandal.
Newly released stolen emails show a long-running relationship between Mr. Otaiba and Jho Low, a Malaysian financier who U.S. law-enforcement officials say is at the center of the misappropriation of $4.5 billion from a Malaysian state development fund.
That relationship is drawing new scrutiny from U.S., Swiss and Singaporean authorities, according to people familiar with the probes. The stolen emails show Mr. Otaiba and Shaher Awartani, his Jordanian partner, discussing inquiries from those countries about transactions they received from entities investigators say is connected to Mr. Low.
In one email, Mr. Awartani suggested buying a Ferrari after what Mr. Otaiba described as a ‘transfer from Jho.’…
Mr. Otaiba responded that buying such ‘toys’ in Abu Dhabi ‘will just attract unnecessary attention.’ Messrs. Awartani and Otaiba both declined to comment. The probes are ongoing.”
-Bradley Hope and Tom Wright, “Stolen Emails Show Ties Between U.A.E. Envoy and 1MDB Fund’s Central Figure,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 1, 2017 05:30am