Leeson scoop by Daily Express is probably world’s last
Published on: Monday, May 23, 2022
By: David Thien
Daily Express on March 3, 1995. At right: UK’s The Independent devoted a full page to the Daily Express scoop.
THE world scoop that the Daily Express achieved when it exposed where Nick Leeson – the man who caused the collapse of Britain’s Barings Bank – was hiding while the world was looking for him, may have been the planet’s last.James said the “breaking news” for which the Daily Express achieved international fame, including mention on CNN, BBC and other global media, happened in 1995, when the smartphone was still 15 years away and social media was unheard of.
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Leeson who James described as “the original Jho Lo” chalked up losses of up to $1.3 billion from unauthorised stock market trading that bankrupted the bank that counted the British royal family as clients for 230 years.
Jho Lo, a Malaysian, is still a fugitive who has been implicated but yet to testify in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal that brought down the federal government of former PM Najib Razak.
Recalling what happened, James said with three weeks having passed and no sign of Leeson anywhere, he had a gut feeling that if at all, Sabah could be the perfect hiding place for the world’s most wanted man.
“A scoop is what every media aspires to achieve and that it turned out to be a world scoop was certainly an honour for Sabah and Malaysian journalists,” said James.
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“When I reported for duty that morning, I decided that ShangriLa Tanjung Aru Resort resort will be a good place to start and asked my crime reporter Clifford Santa Maria to try his luck there.
“Ironically, Clifford bumped into a police officer there who quipped, without even asking why he (Clifford) was there that he should forget it if he was looking for Leeson.
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“I told him to stay and see what he can gather from the staff about the white couples staying there and was told about one such couple that behaved strangely and kept to themselves,” he said.
“We knew we were onto something and began investigating further but hit a wall when we found out that the couple in question had suddenly cut short their stay the day earlier.
“However, there was a mystery because although they checked out the day earlier, they were still in the State Capital, either in a budget hotel or were being harboured by someone.
“It seemed that they had been tipped off that it would be unwise to continue staying at the resort anymore.
“It also made us wonder whether what the cop told us about not to waste time looking for him at the resort had anything to do with him (Leeson) checking out early.
“From there it was further investigative journalism like checking which are the flights heading to Europe as once there and being EU citizens, they need not go back to England but disappear anywhere in Europe.
“We concentrated on finding out what we could from Royal Brunei Airlines and zoomed in on a couple that was travelling on a different name.
“We then tried to match the description with what we knew from the hotel staff and by 6pm were pretty sure that it must be Leeson and his girlfriend, whose name he used when staying at the resort.”
“We also duly checked with the police but were cautioned of the potential national embarrassment if the DE report turned out wrong.
“The police chief told us it could be very damaging for Malaysia and Daily Express better be responsible for it. On hindsight, I think the police probably didn’t want to be embarrassed about being unaware that the world’s most wanted man had slipped into Sabah unnoticed.
“I contacted RBA again, including the control tower in Bandar Seri Begawan for more information as well as the schedule of the particular flight and found out that its next stop was in Bangkok enroute to Frankfurt.
“After some difficulty, I managed to get through to the Control Tower at Don Muang International Airport at 8pm telling them that we suspect Leeson was on board the plane and whether they could do a security check to confirm.
“But the person said there is nothing they can do as such advice should come from the authorities and not the media and that the plane had just been cleared for take off for Dubai, the next stop.
“Despite the police advice, we decided to run the story as a front page lead, which Interpol picked up and immediately stationed police at Frankfurt airport, the plane’s final stop.”
Leeson was arrested soon as he stepped off the plane. The Times of London and The Guardian, among others, hailed the Daily Express “breaking news” as a world scoop.
“I am glad that Daily Express achieved this. It means a lot for the paper and the vision that its founder late Tan Sri Yeh Pao Tze had when he started it even before Sabah achieved its independence.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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