Key’s death comes after the anti-graft authority said he had confirmed the whereabouts of Malaysian financier Juho Taek Low.
A suspect in the 1MDB scandal has died weeks after he was deported to Malaysia to face questioning over his role in the $4.5 billion fraud.
Ky Kok Thiam’s family said in a statement that Ky Kok Thiam died in hospital on Monday after suffering a sudden stroke and was cremated on Wednesday morning.
“We urge all parties not to accept any speculation about this unfortunate event and to allow the family room to grieve [sic] The statement said.
News of the 56-year-old businessman’s death comes hours after Al Jazeera reported that Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission had confirmed the whereabouts of fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Taek Low – the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scandal – in Macau based on its interrogation by K.
Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission said Ke, who was deported from Macau earlier this month, revealed that he had met with Lu and other 1MDB fugitives on Chinese soil and that Lu had ordered him “not to return to Malaysia as a witness in the 1MDB case”.
Low disappeared in 2016 as authorities shut down from Singapore to Australia and the United States the theft of billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
A source at the Anti-Corruption Coordination Center, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that Key was not under the protection of the authorities because he was still considered a suspect. The source said there had been no negotiations about what information he would be willing to disclose in order to receive protection.
Key was released without charge after being questioned by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers earlier this month.
