神秘马来西亚人 纽约豪宅交易的幕后操盘手(2)

The Making of a Financier

造就一个金融家

To mention Mr. Low in Malaysia is to conjure the image of a baby-faced young man in rimless glasses and a loose black V-neck, holding a magnum of Cristal and surrounded by celebrities. But if he is sometimes derided as a tabloid party boy who once flew a group of bottle girls from New York to Malaysia, the reality is that the clubbing life, for Mr. Low, was actually a way to build a booming business managing money for his friends.

在马来西亚提到刘特佐，在人们心目中唤起的形象是长着一张娃娃脸、戴着无框眼镜的年轻男子，他身穿宽松的黑色V领衫，手拿一瓶水晶香槟(Cristal)，站在一群名人中间。如果说他有时被嘲笑为常上小报的花花公子，还曾把一群倒酒女郎(bottle girls)从纽约用飞机接到到马来西亚，但现实情况却是，这种泡吧生活是刘特佐打造一个帮助朋友管钱的蓬勃业务的方式。

“I think a relationship with an investor is not just about managing their money well,” he said in an extensive interview with The Star, a Malaysian newspaper, in 2010. “Although it is not in my job scope, but if my friend says he wants a flight urgently to somewhere or he wants a dinner reservation at a well-known place, I’ll do my best to make it happen.” He also said, “I am usually the concierge service that arranges everything, and thus my name is all over the place.”

“我觉得，与投资者的关系不只是管好他们的钱，”他在2010年马来西亚报纸《星报》(The Star)对他的长篇采访中说。“如果我的朋友说，他需要紧急飞往某个地方、或他想在一个知名饭馆预订晚餐，虽然这不在我的工作范围之内，但我会尽我所能做成这事。”他还表示，“我是那种提供一切安排的礼宾服务者，因此，所有的地方都有我的名字。”

Around George Town, on Penang Island, where Jho grew up, the Lows were seen as a family of somewhat deflated affluence, according to several businessmen who have known them for years. The father, Larry, was an executive for an investment holding company called MWE Holdings, but he split with his partner in the mid-1990s and faded from the local business scene. Still only a teenager, Jho, the youngest of three children, emerged as the family’s best hope for the future.

几名与刘家相识多年的商人表示，在刘特佐长大的槟榔屿乔治市，人们认为刘家已经有些败落。他的父亲刘福平(Larry Low)曾是一家名为MWE Holdings的投资控股公司的高管。但是，上世纪90年代中期，他与合作伙伴发生纠纷，之后渐渐从当地商界消失。刘特佐是家里三个孩子中最小的一个，当时还只是一名少年的他，成了刘家未来最大的希望。

There was money for education abroad, and in London, while attending the ancient and elite Harrow school, Mr. Low became friends with Mr. Najib’s stepson, Mr. Aziz, who was studying at the London School of Economics. He also grew close to Mr. Aziz’s mother, Rosmah Mansor, who stayed for months at a time in an apartment she kept there.

家里仍有用于留学的钱。刘特佐在伦敦古老的精英学校哈罗公学(Harrow School)就读时，与纳吉布的继子阿齐兹成了朋友。阿齐兹当时在伦敦政治经济学院(London School of Economics)学习。他与阿齐兹的母亲罗斯玛·曼梳(Rosmah Mansor)的关系也密切起来。她会去自己位于英国的一所公寓，一待就是几个月。

In college, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Low kept up his ties back home by running a Malaysian student group. But he also came to know the children of prominent Jordanian and Kuwaiti families. Even before graduating, he was managing money for what he later described as “my family and close Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian friends.”

在宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)的沃顿商学院(Wharton School)读大学期间，刘特佐通过管理一个马来西亚学生团体，与马来西亚保持着联系。不过，他也结识了约旦和科威特名门望族的子弟。他在毕业之前，就已经开始为他人管理基金，他形容那些人是“我的家人，以及中东和东南亚的亲密朋友”。

After college, many of his early business deals were based in Malaysia — helping a Kuwaiti bank purchase a high-rise complex called the Oval, and bringing Middle Eastern money into the country to finance a commercial zone in the south and a new financial district in the capital. By 2007, he had formed an investment group that included a Malaysian prince, a Kuwaiti sheikh and a friend from the United Arab Emirates who went on to become ambassador to the United States and Mexico.

大学毕业后，他最初的许多商业交易都是在马来西亚开展的——帮一家科威特银行购买了叫做Oval的高层楼宇，并把中东的资金引入马来西亚，为南部的一个商业区和吉隆坡的一个新金融区提供资金。到2007年时，他已经成立了一个投资集团，参与其中的包括一名马来西亚王子、一名科威特谢赫，以及阿联酋的一位友人。后来，这位友人成了阿联酋驻美国和墨西哥的大使。

Two years later, he was pitching his idea for a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. His plan was to invest public money for the public good through a fund tied to one of the country’s oil-producing states, and so he began wooing the sultan of Terengganu, who was also Malaysia’s king under the nation’s rotating monarchy.

两年后，他就开始四处推介建立一个马来西亚主权财富基金的想法。他计划通过与该国一个产油州有联系的基金，使用公共资金开展投资为公众谋利，所以他开始拉拢登嘉楼州的苏丹。根据马来西亚轮流担任君主的体制，这位苏丹当时是马来西亚的最高元首。

It was all about making connections, making friends. Success, he told The Star, is “attributable to being at the right place and right time and meeting the right people coupled with a trusting relationship.”

最重要的是拉关系和交朋友。他告诉《星报》，成功“就是要在正确的时间处在正确的位置，遇见正确的人，再加上互相信任的关系”。

In April 2009, those ingredients all came together for Mr. Low. The stepfather of his friend Mr. Aziz became prime minister of Malaysia.

对于刘特佐而言，这些要素在2009年4月结合在了一起。他的朋友阿齐兹的继父，当上了马来西亚总理。

A Political Legacy

政治遗产

Mr. Najib, 61, has a deep pedigree in Malaysian politics. His father, Tun Razak, was the country’s second prime minister, in the 1970s. His uncle was its third. His cousin is now defense minister.

61岁的纳吉布与马来西亚政治有着很深的渊源。他的父亲敦拉扎克(Tun Razak)是上世纪70年代马来西亚的第二任总理。他的舅父是马来西亚第三任总理，他的表弟是现任国防部长。

Mr. Najib has risen through the political ranks: member of Parliament at 23; chief minister of his home state; minister of education, defense and finance; and deputy prime minister.

纳吉布在政治体系中步步高升：23岁时担任国会议员；之后在家乡所在州担任州务大臣；继而担任教育、国防和财政部长；后来担任副总理。

The family is tightly intertwined with Malaysia’s leading political party, the United Malays National Organization, whose long hold on power owes much to its close relationship with the country’s business elite. That closeness, in turn, has helped engender a culture of corruption, said Zaid Ibrahim, a former minister of legal affairs and judicial reform who served alongside Mr. Najib. Inflated government contracts are the norm, widely accepted because recipients simply turn around and donate to the party, he said.

他的家族与马来西亚最重要的政党马来民族统一机构（The United Malays National Organization，简称巫统）之间的关系十分密切。这个家族之所以能够长期掌权，主要还是因为它与马来西亚的商界精英关系亲密。然而，这种亲密关系反过来又催生了一种腐败文化，曾担任部长负责法律和司法改革事务的再益·依布拉欣(Zaid Ibrahim)说。再益曾与纳吉布同时担任部长。他说，夸大金额的政府合约十分常见，而这种合约之所以被广泛接受，原因在于拿到合约的商人，会反过来为巫统捐钱。

“You know why corruption is very high in Malaysia?” he said. “It’s because the party in power is synonymous with the state.”

“你知道马来西亚的腐败程度为什么这么高吗？”他说。“因为执政党就等同于政府。”

That point was underscored in the State Department’s 2010 human rights report, which said, “Officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity” and noted “a broadly held perception of widespread corruption and cronyism within the governing coalition and in government institutions.”

美国国务院(State Department)发布的2010年度人权报告中也强调了这一点。报告称，“官员经常肆无忌惮地从事腐败活动”，并指出“人们普遍认为，执政联盟和政府机构内，广泛存在腐败和任人唯亲的现象”。

There have been no proven corruption allegations against Mr. Najib. However, he has been dogged by questions, seized upon by his political opponents, stemming from a long-running bribery inquiry in France involving submarines he commissioned from a French company while he was defense minister.

尽管针对纳吉布的腐败指控，目前还没有哪一项得到证实，但他一直被各种问题所困扰，被政治对手抓住不放。这些问题源于法国一项长期的贿赂调查，与他担任国防部长期间，从一家法国公司订购潜艇一事有关。

The French national police found documents showing that the submarine company paid more than $100 million to a company controlled by one of Mr. Najib’s close associates. In addition, one police document says, without elaboration, that Mr. Najib demanded money in exchange for a 2001 meeting in Paris.

法国警方发现的文件显示，那家潜艇公司向一家由纳吉布的亲信控制的公司，支付了超过1亿美元。此外，一份警方文件还称，纳吉布还曾索要钱财，以此换取2001年在巴黎举行一次会议，但文件中并未详述相关情形。

Malaysian officials said the payments to the company controlled by Mr. Najib’s associate were for “support and coordination services”; the prime minister’s office said he received no payments and did not demand any.

马来西亚官员称，向纳吉布的亲信控制的公司支付款项，是用于开展“支持和协调服务”；总理办公室称，他并没有收到任何款项，也没有要求对方付款。

Mr. Najib, who earns an annual salary of about $100,000 as prime minister, has been battered by news media reports of his wife’s lavish spending. A notable episode involved the Birkin bags: A series of photos that went viral on social media in Malaysia showed Ms. Rosmah holding at least nine of the purses. They typically cost between $9,000 and $150,000 apiece.

作为总理，纳吉布的年薪约为10万美元。由于媒体对他妻子的挥霍进行了报道，他也受到了冲击。其中一个著名事件与柏金包有关：马来西亚社交网络上广泛传播的一系列照片显示，罗斯玛拿着至少九个手包，其价格通常在每个9000美元到15万美元之间。

Ariff Sabri, an aide to Mr. Najib from 2000 to 2004 who joined the opposition in 2012, said the prime minister kept “piles and piles” of ringgit bills stacked in his safe. And invoices and other documents obtained by The Times show millions of dollars in jewelry ordered for Ms. Rosmah in Hong Kong in 2008 and 2009 — diamond and emerald rings, and diamond, emerald and ruby bracelets.

曾在2000年到2004担任纳吉布助理的阿里夫·沙比利(Ariff Sabri)于2012年加入了反对派。他说，总理在保险箱里放着“成堆成堆的”马来西亚令吉。时报取得的其他票据和文件显示，2008年和2009年，在香港为罗斯玛订购的珠宝就有数百万美元之多，其中有钻石和翡翠戒指，还有用钻石、翡翠和红宝石制成的手镯。

The prime minister’s office said, “Neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewelry purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets.”

总理办公室称，“对于一个高居总理职位、肩负着重要责任，并且拥有家族遗产的人来说，花钱旅行或购买珠宝，以及据称放在保险箱里的财物，都不足为奇。”

For some people who have long known Mr. Najib, the lavish lifestyle that appeared to evolve with his second marriage, to Ms. Rosmah in 1987, has been a surprising — even dismaying — turn for a modest technocrat.

对于那些很早就认识纳吉布的人来说，这种奢侈的生活方式与过去那个低调的技术官僚相比，是一个出人意料、甚至令人沮丧的转变。转变发生在1987年与第二任妻子罗斯玛结婚之后。

Last year, Mr. Najib’s younger brother, Nazir, wrote a newspaper column that tacitly jabbed at the current prime minister by praising the frugality of their father, a career government official who died in office at age 53.

去年，纳吉布的弟弟纳西尔(Nazir)给报纸写了一篇专栏文章，通过赞扬他们父亲的节俭，对现任总理进行了暗讽。他们的父亲是一名职业政府官员，53岁时在任上去世。

When he and his brothers had asked for a swimming pool at the prime minister’s residence, Mr. Nazir wrote, “My father made it abundantly clear that while Seri Taman may be our home, the house belonged to the government and, hence, to the people. Anything spent on it would have to come from public funds, and there was no way he was going to allow the state coffers to be depleted on something as frivolous as a swimming pool. ‘What will the people think?’ he thundered.”

纳西尔写道，当他和兄弟们提出想在总理府修建一个游泳池时， “父亲非常清楚地告诉我们，斯里塔曼(Seri Taman)或许是我们的家，但房子属于政府，所以它属于人民。它所有的开支都来自公共资金，他绝不允许国库的资金都用在游泳池这种无足轻重的事情上。‘人民会怎么想？’他怒喝道。”

The Fund

投资基金

Mr. Low’s business romance with Malaysia’s king, it turned out, was short lived. But the new prime minister, Mr. Najib, was happy to have a way to benefit the nation writ large, and the sovereign wealth fund soon morphed into a new one, called 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

事实证明，刘特佐与马来西亚元首的生意关系并不长久。但是，新任总理纳吉布很高兴有办法能让代表这个国家的那群人获益。主权财富基金很快演变成了一家名为“一个马来西亚发展有限公司”（1Malaysia Development Berhad，简称1MDB）的新基金。

Mr. Najib became chairman of the board of advisers of 1MDB, which calls itself a “strategic development company.” A close Penang friend of Mr. Low’s father became a director, and two of Mr. Low’s friends joined the staff. Mr. Low himself was not given an official role, but he is regularly consulted on its actions, according to three people who have had regular dealings with 1MDB but requested anonymity to preserve relationships.

纳吉布成了1MDB顾问委员会的主席，该公司自称是一家“战略发展公司”。刘特佐的父亲在槟城的一位密友担任公司董事，刘特佐的两位朋友也加入了该公司。与1MDB时常有业务往来的三人表示，刘特佐并未担任正式职务，但公司经常向他寻求建议。为了维持业务关系，这三人要求匿名。

In his statement to The Times, Mr. Low played down his role in 1MDB, saying that “from time to time and without receiving compensation,” he has given his views on various matters.

刘特佐在给时报的声明中淡化了他在1MDB中的作用，说他会“时不时地，在不收取报酬的情况下”为各种事情提供建议。

While Mr. Low has no official position with the fund, in 2012 it emerged in British court documents that he had presented a letter of support from 1MDB in his investors’ unsuccessful bid for the hotel group that includes Claridge’s. He also said the financing would be fully underwritten by Malaysian government investment funds, according to the documents.

虽然刘特佐在基金中没有任何正式职务，但是2012年，英国法院的文件表示，在他代表的投资者试图以15亿美元竞购拥有凯莱奇酒店(Claridge’s)的一家酒店集团时，他拿出了1MDB发出的一封支持信。文件显示，他还曾表示，马来西亚政府的投资基金将为此次融资提供担保。那次竞购最后未获成功。

Mr. Low and 1MDB also had dealings with an oil-drilling company called PetroSaudi International that had been founded by a Saudi businessman and a Saudi prince.

刘特佐和1MDB还与一家叫做沙特石油国际公司(PetroSaudi International)的石油开采企业有业务往来，这家公司的创始人是一个沙特商人和一个沙特王子。

Soon after its creation, 1MDB invested $1 billion in a joint venture with PetroSaudi. A few months later, a PetroSaudi subsidiary purchased a Malaysian holding company, UBG, in which Mr. Low and his investors held a substantial stake, according to public records. News media reports did not say so, but corporate records reviewed by The Times show that a director of the PetroSaudi subsidiary was a close friend of Mr. Low named Geh Choh Hun.

成立后不久，1MDB就投资10亿美元，与沙特石油成立了一家合资企业。几个月后，沙特石油的一家子公司收购了马来西亚控股公司UBG。公开记录显示，刘特佐及他代表的投资者在这家公司中持有大量股份。虽然新闻报道中并未提及，但时报查阅的企业记录显示，沙特石油的这家子公司中，有一名董事是刘特佐的密友，名叫倪祖韩(Geh Choh Hun)。

PetroSaudi has told the Malaysian press that the deals were unrelated. And both men said Mr. Geh was not representing Mr. Low’s interest in the deal.

沙特石油告诉马来西亚媒体，这些交易并不相关。两人都表示，倪祖韩并没有在交易中代表刘特佐的利益。

By 2011, 1MDB pulled out of the PetroSaudi joint venture. The proceeds, however, were not immediately returned to Malaysia. Instead, they ended up in a Cayman Islands company and managed by an investment firm that 1MDB only recently identified. The money was recently returned to 1MDB, the fund has said.

2011年，1MDB从它与沙特石油的合资企业中撤资。不过，款项没有被立即回到马来西亚，而是到了一家开曼群岛的公司手中，这家公司由一家投资公司管理。1MDB最近才指出该投资公司的名称。该基金表示，这些钱最近返还给了1MDB。

The Caymans maneuver has stirred an outcry even within Mr. Najib’s own party. “I don’t understand why the government carries on with 1MDB,” Daim Zainuddin, a former finance minister, said in an interview. “To me, it’s quite frightening because you don’t know what they’re doing,” he said, adding, “Why must government money be parked?”

就连在纳吉布所属政党的内部，开曼群岛的动作也引起了强烈抗议。“我不明白为什么政府还要与1MDB保持关系，”马来西亚前财长达耶姆·扎因丁(Daim Zainuddin)在采访中说。“在我看来，这相当可怕，因为你不知道他们在做什么，”他补充道，“为什么要把政府的钱放在那里？”

There have been other criticisms as well — that the fund has taken on large amounts of debt and that some of its investments have benefited large donors to Mr. Najib’s party.

也有其他的批评声音，如该基金背负了大量债务，一些投资项目使纳吉布所在政党的主要资助者受益。

The prime minister’s office said that 1MDB was run by professional managers, and that many blue-chip companies do business with funds registered in the Caymans. The criticisms, it added, “need to be examined for political motivation.”

纳吉布办公室表示，1MDB由职业经理人经营，很多蓝筹股公司都与在开曼群岛注册的基金有商业往来。总理办公室还表示，“需要审视”这些批评的“政治动机”。

A year ago, the accounting firm KPMG refused to sign off on 1MDB’s financials, according to Nur Jazlan Mohamed, chairman of Parliament’s audit committee. KPMG declined to comment for this article. The fund, which described the parting as amicable, found a new auditor: Deloitte.

马来西亚国会审计委员会主席诺嘉兹兰·穆罕默德(Nur Jazlan Mohamed)透露，一年前，会计师事务所毕马威(KPMG)拒绝签字认可1MBD的财务状况。毕马威拒绝就本文置评。该基金形容双方友好地结束了合作关系，并找到一个新的审计事务所：德勤(Deloitte)。

Mr. Nur Jazlan, a member of Mr. Najib’s party, said the Deloitte blessing gave him comfort. “They wouldn’t sanction the accounts if there was a problem,” he said. Still, he acknowledged that “conditions are fertile” for fraud, given the scant oversight of 1MDB.

作为纳吉布所在政党的成员，诺嘉兹兰表示，德勤的支持给他带来了安慰。他说，“如果有问题的话，他们不会认可这些账目。”但他承认，鉴于对1MDB的监督不足，欺诈“的条件非常充足”。

“Yes, they make money, but should they make more money?” Mr. Nur Jazlan said. Yet as long as 1MDB shows a profit, he added, it is unlikely that there will be any serious inquiry into whether money went missing. “Money makes money,” he said. “You can basically hide a lot of things in there as well. Then, the party doing scrutiny of management is the board, which is appointed by who? And chaired by who? The prime minister.”

诺嘉兹兰说，“是的，他们在赚钱，但他们赚的钱是不是应该再多些？”但是他又表示，只要1MDB还在盈利，就不太可能开展严格的调查，追究是否有资金流失。“钱可以用来赚钱，”他说。“你基本上还是可以将很多东西隐藏起来。对管理层进行监督的是董事会，董事会是由谁委任的？由谁领导呢？总理。”