As news has emerged of the Royal pardon granted by Thailand to the Swiss national Xavier Justo, his wife has received two serious warnings from high level sources that Malaysian related entities have been instructed not to let him leave the country alive.

Sarawak Report has confirmed that the two entirely separate sources have tonight indicated that there is a ‘Black Ops’ notice out to ensure that an ‘accident’ befalls Justo during his vulnerable journey from the jail, where he has been securely protected, first to emigration and then the airport. He is due to be released in the coming days.

“The instructions are from Malaysia” one key source which has high level security links has warned Sarawak Report.  “They plan to use local operatives with connections to official bodies to make sure he will not make it out of Bangkok”.

Another separate source also approached Sarawak Report this evening “Either an accident or a hit man, there are Malaysian related entities with far-reaching contacts in Thailand and there is evidence that the instruction has gone out”.

The news has thrown Swiss based Laura Justo, who has been waiting in Geneva anxiously for her husband for several months, into a new state of anxiety.

This evening she told Sarawak Report that she has notified her lawyers, The Swiss Embassy and several international law enforcement bodies about the level of the threat, but she is fearful that they may fail to provide adequate protection for her husband once he leaves the jail.

Laura says she is also fearful of an attempt to kidnap Justo.

The Malaysian authorities have made no secret of their determination to lay hands on the key whistleblower, who was imprisoned June 2015 for revealing details of the PetroSaudi deal, which has led to the unravelling of the world’s biggest ever kleptocracy case related to Malaysia’s development fund, 1MDB.

Justo had originally been promised his release back in August, not long after the US Department of Justice lodged its asset seizure notice for a billion dollars worth of property with the California District Court.  Just yesterday a US Federal Court Judge rejected an attempt by Jho Low (the prime minister’s key advisor on 1MDB) to stay that seizure on assets held in the name of himself and his family.

However, just days before the papers were due to be signed Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak made an extended visit to Bangkok and placed Justo at the top of the agenda for talks.

The Prime Minister made plain that he wanted the Swiss National to be extradited to Malaysia, even though there is no evidence that the country has any rights of jurisdiction in the case, which concerned an accusation of blackmail by PetroSaudi against their former Director and his acquisition of their company data.

Sources have told Sarawak Report that Thailand has refused to allow the unwarranted extradition request, which has been fiercely challenged by the Swiss authorities who believe their national has been targeted for being a whistleblower.  Having now served 18 months he was eligible to return home to Switzerland.

There are questions as to what, if any, new information Xavier Justo can bring to further investigations into 1MDB, which are now at an advanced stage in several countries which have been engaged in a cross border collaboration to trace up to $7 billion which are calculated to have gone missing from the fund.

Justo has already provided the data relating to the original PetroSaudi deal from which $1.83 billion was siphoned from the fund and the US has obtained extensive details of the dollar transactions that were involved. Numerous banks are now also collaborating with investigators from at least 7 countries and several accounts are frozen.

Furthermore, two senior executives from the Abu Dhabi fund Aabar, who were implicated in thefts are now also in jail in Abu Dhabi and believed to be cooperating with their authorities who have lodged a major case to reclaim $6.5 billion from 1MDB.

Nevertheless, recorded conversations and text messages from PetroSaudi Director Patrick Mahony, which were sent last year, make quite clear that he believed that Najib was fearful at the thought of Justo ever being let free. “A prime minister of a country is in deep shit” Mahony told Laura Justo in French in October last year.  He made clear that Najib was controlling Justo’s imprisonment and that if he wanted to be let free he needed to demonstrate that he would not speak against him after his release.

Mahony also made a number of demands that Justo and his wife should make statements to the press that assisted Najib and accused critics of 1MDB of dishonesty, in particular Sarawak Report.

After 18 months of separation from her husband, during which time Justo has seen his son just once, Laura says all she wants is to have he safely home in Switzerland. She believes he is no use and no threat to anyone in Malaysia.