In early 2010, a young Malaysian financier named Jho Low began 

making some very expensive real estate deals in the United States.

2010年初，一位名叫刘特佐(Jho Low)的马来西亚年轻金融家开始在美国做起

非常昂贵的房地产交易。

First, a shell company connected to Mr. Low, famous back home for 

partying with the likes of Paris Hilton, purchased a $23.98 million 

apartment in the Park Laurel condominiums in Manhattan. Three years 

later, that shell company sold the condo to another shell company, this 

one controlled by someone even more prominent in Malaysia: the film-

producing stepson of the prime minister.

刘特佐在当地以与帕丽斯·希尔顿(Paris Hilton)这样的人出入派对而闻名，一个

与他有关的空壳公司买下了位于曼哈顿的公园桂冠(Park Laurel)共管公寓的一套

售价2398万美元的套房。三年后，那个空壳公司把套房出售给另一个空壳公司，

而这家公司则是在马来西亚地位更高的人控制之下：马拉西亚总理的身为电影

制片人的继子。

A similar transaction was playing out on the other side of the country. 

Mr. Low bought a contemporary mansion in Beverly Hills for $17.5 million, 

then turned around and sold it, once again to the prime minister’s 

stepson. (Read a summary of this article in Malay.)

一笔类似的交易也在美国的另一边进行着。刘特佐在比佛利山(Beverly Hills)买

下了一座1750万美元的现代豪宅，然后转手把它卖掉，还是卖给了总理的继子。

（阅读马来语版文章摘要）

Mr. Low also went shopping at the Time Warner Center condominiums 

overlooking Central Park. He toured a 76th-floor penthouse, once home 

to the celebrity couple Jay Z and Beyoncé, then in early 2011 used yet 

another shell company to buy it for $30.55 million, one of the highest 

prices ever in the building.

刘特佐也去了俯瞰中央公园的时代华纳中心共管公寓采购。他参观了位于76层

的一套顶层套房，那曾是一对明星夫妇Jay Z和碧昂丝的家，之后于2011年初

通过另外一个空壳公司花3055万美元将其买下，这是该豪华公寓楼售价最高

的公寓之一。

At the time, Mr. Low said he represented a group of investors, according 

to two people with direct knowledge of the transaction. Mr. Low recently 

told The New York Times that he had not purchased the penthouse for 

investors, and that it was owned by his family’s trust.

据两位对交易有直接了解的人说，当时，刘特佐说，他代表了一群投资者。

刘特佐最近告诉《纽约时报》说，那套顶层公寓不是为投资者买的，而是由

他的家族的一个信托基金拥有。

One thing is clear: As with nearly two-thirds of the apartments at the 

Time Warner Center, a dark-glass symbol of New York’s luxury 

condominium boom, the people behind Penthouse 76B cannot be 

found in any public real estate records. The trail ends with Jho Low.

有一点是明确的：在时代华纳中心，这座象征着纽约豪华公寓热潮的深色玻璃

建筑中，与近三分之二的公寓一样，顶层公寓76B的实际拥有者不能在任何

公开的房地产记录中找到。线索以刘特佐为止。

刘特佐 ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL HOEWELER

Mr. Low, 33, is a skillful, and more than occasionally flamboyant, iteration 

of the sort of operative essential to the economy of the global superrich. 

Just as many of the wealthy use shell companies to keep the movement 

of money opaque, they also use people like Mr. Low. Whether shopping 

for new business opportunities or real estate, he has often done so on 

behalf of investors or, as he likes to say, friends. Whether the money 

belongs to others or is his own, the lines are frequently blurry, the 

identity of the buyer elusive.

现年33岁的刘特佐是全球超级富豪经济不可缺少的那种熟练的、惯于炫耀的

操作手。正如许多富人用空壳公司来保持资金流动的不透明那样，他们也使用

像刘特佐这样的人。无论是投资新的商业机会、还是采购房地产，他经常代表

投资者（或者用他喜欢的说法“朋友”）出面。所用的钱是属于别人还是属于

他自己常常没有清楚的界线，而买家的身份则更难以捉摸。

Mr. Low’s lavish spending has raised eyebrows and questions from 

Kuala Lumpur to New York, where he has made a boldface name for 

himself as a “whale” at clubs like the Pink Elephant and 1Oak. The 

New York Post once called him “the mystery man of city club scene,”

 adding, “Speculation is brewing over where Low is getting his money 

from.”

刘特佐的出手阔绰从吉隆坡到纽约都令人惊讶和不解，在纽约的像Pink 

Elephant和1Oak这样的俱乐部里，他以“鲸鱼”的绰号大名鼎鼎。《纽约

邮报》(New York Post)曾称他为“纽约俱乐部圈子里的神秘人物”，还说，

“人们对刘特佐的钱是从哪来的有各种推测。”

One answer resides at least indirectly in his relationship, going back to 

his school days in London, with the family of Malaysia’s prime minister, 

Najib Razak. Mr. Low has played an important role in bringing Middle 

Eastern money into numerous deals involving the Malaysian government, 

and he helped set up, and has continued to advise, a Malaysian sovereign 

wealth fund that the prime minister oversees.

一个答案是至少间接地来自他与马来西亚总理纳吉布·拉扎克(Najib Razak)家族

的关系，这要追溯到他在伦敦度过的学生时代。刘特佐在将中东资金吸引到与

马来西亚政府有关的多笔交易中起过重要作用，他帮助建立了一个由总理负责

的马来西亚主权财富基金，并继续为基金担任顾问。

Now, that relationship has become part of an uproar gathering around 

Mr. Najib and threatening his already shaky hold on power. In Parliament, 

in political cartoons and in social media, Mr. Najib’s critics tend to argue 

that he is too close to Mr. Low.

现在，这种关系已成为围绕着纳吉布的轩然大波的一部分，并威胁到他对权力

的已经摇摇欲坠的控制。在国会里、在政治漫画中，以及在社交媒体上，纳吉布

的批评者常常会认为他与刘特佐的关系过于密切。

Much of the concern, even in Mr. Najib’s own long-ruling party, 

involves questions about the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. More 

broadly, though, the prime minister’s trappings of wealth and the 

widely broadcast tales of his wife’s outsize spending — the diamond 

jewelry, the collection of extravagantly costly Hermès Birkin bags — 

have become a focus of Malaysians’ rising unease with their 

government’s institutionalized culture of patronage and graft.

甚至包括纳吉布所在的长期执政的政党在内的各方都很关注有关马来西亚主权

财富基金的问题。不过，更广泛地说，总理的所有财富象征、以及流传甚广的

总理夫人大手笔消费的故事——她的钻石首饰、极为昂贵的爱马仕柏金(Birkin)

包的收藏——已成为马来西亚人对政府中存在的、制度化的权钱交易和腐败

文化不断增长的不满的焦点。

“We are very concerned,” Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a member of 

Malaysian royalty and an independent-minded elder statesman of Mr. 

Najib’s party, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur last summer. “We

want people of integrity to be up there.”

“我们非常担心，”马来西亚王室成员、纳吉布所在党的一位思想独立的元老东

古·拉扎雷·哈姆扎(Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah)去年夏天在吉隆坡接受采访时

说。“我们希望诚实正直的人来当领导。”

Increasingly, the glare turns to Mr. Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, and so to 

Mr. Aziz’s friendship with Mr. Low. With Mr. Low’s help, Mr. Aziz runs 

a Hollywood company that produced the films “The Wolf of Wall Street”

 and “Dumb and Dumber To.” He has spent tens of millions more on 

the homes in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, transactions that involved Mr. 

Low, The Times found.

越来越多的关注正转向纳吉布的继子勒扎·阿齐兹(Riza Aziz)以及阿齐兹与刘特佐

的友谊上。在刘特佐的帮助下，阿齐兹成为一家好莱坞公司的共同创始人，该

公司是电影《华尔街之狼》(The Wolf of Wall Street)和《阿呆与阿瓜2》

(Dumb and Dumber To)的制作商。时报发现，阿齐兹又花了数千万美元购置

曼哈顿和比佛利山的房子，这些交易都涉及刘特佐。

“That’s a lot of money,” Sivarasa Rasiah, an opposition lawmaker, 

said of Mr. Aziz’s spending. He added, “Every U.S. report on him talks

 about family wealth. Family who?”

“那是很大的一笔钱，”国会中的反对党派议员西华拉沙·拉西亚(Sivarasa 

Rasiah)在提到阿齐兹的花销时说。他还说，“美国关于他的每篇报道都提

家族财富。谁的家族？”

While Mr. Aziz has previously said he is personally wealthy, he declined

to explain how he had acquired his money. Mr. Najib’s office, in a 

statement, said, “The prime minister does not track how much Mr. Aziz 

earns or how such earnings are reinvested.” As for the prime minister 

himself, the statement said he had “received inheritance.”

虽然阿齐兹此前曾表示，他本人很富有，但他拒绝解释他是如何获得自己的

财富的。纳吉布的办公室在一份声明中说：“总理不追踪阿齐兹挣多少钱、

或他如何利用这些钱进行再投资。”至于总理本人，声明说他“继承了财产”。

In a statement provided by a spokesman, Mr. Low, whose full name is 

Low Taek Jho, said he “is a friend of Mr. Riza Aziz and his family.” 

His real estate transactions with Mr. Aziz were made “on an arm’s

-length basis,” he said, adding that he had never purchased real estate 

in the United States for the prime minister’s family or “engaged in 

any wrongful conduct regarding any financial matters for the prime 

minister and his family.”

在由发言人提供的一份声明中，刘特佐（他全名的英译是Low Taek Jho）说，

自己“是勒扎·阿齐兹及其家人的朋友”。他与阿齐兹的房地产交易是“在与

委托人保持距离的基础上”进行的，他还说，他从未在美国为总理的家人购置

过房地产，或“为总理及其家人在任何有关金融的事务上从事过任何不法行为”。

At the Time Warner Center, The Times found, the 76th-floor penthouse, 

purchased through a shell company called 80 Columbus Circle (NYC) 

L.L.C., is one of at least a dozen that can be traced to people with close 

ties to current or former high-ranking foreign officials, or to the officials 

themselves.

时报在时代华纳中心发现，位于76层的那套顶层豪华公寓是通过名为80 

Columbus Circle (NYC)有限责任公司的空壳公司购买的。包括该公司在内的

至少12家空壳公司可以追溯到与现任或前任外国高级官员有密切联系的人，

或官员本人。

According to one member of the condominium board there, while the 

board understood that the penthouse had been bought for investors, 

it did not ascertain their identities. At the Park Laurel, where Mr. Najib’s 

stepson owns, the board did not respond to questions about whether 

it had examined the financing of the purchase.

据时代华纳共管公寓的一名董事会成员说，虽然董事会知道那套顶层套房是为

投资者购买的，但董事会未曾确认过投资者的身份。在纳吉布的继子拥有房产

的公园桂冠，董事会没有回复有关其是否审查过购房资金的问题。

In fact, in-depth scrutiny of real estate deals is not required. International 

anticorruption organizations have criticized this lack of inquiry — not just 

by real estate brokers and condo boards, but by banks, lawyers and the 

federal government.

实际上，没有对房地产交易进行深入审查的要求。国际反腐败组织批评过这种

不审查的做法，不只是房地产经纪人和共管公寓董事会不审查，而且银行、

律师，以及联邦政府都不审查。

“People should ask the questions, ‘Why is it that this individual is 

bringing in millions of dollars into America, and how was it acquired?’”

 said Charmian Gooch, co-founder of Global Witness, a nongovernmental 

organization that works against corruption around the world.

“人们应该问些问题，‘为什么这个人把成百上千万美元带到美国来，这些钱

是怎么来的？’”在全球各地努力反腐的非政府组织“全球见证”(Global 

Witness)的联合创始人夏米安·古奇(Charmian Gooch)这样说。

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

2014年9月，马来西亚总理纳吉布·拉扎克（中）离开时代华纳中心。纳吉布当周在这里与

刘特佐进行了简短会面。 MICHAEL APPLETON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

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。

罗斯玛·曼梳和她的丈夫，马拉西亚总理纳吉布·拉扎克。 

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。”

Luxury Home Purchases

购买豪宅

与刘特佐有关的一家空壳公司买下了曼哈顿公园桂冠一套2390万美元的套房。该空壳公司后

把套房出售给马来西亚总理继子控制的另一空壳公司。 TODD HEISLER/THE NEW 

YORK TIMES

The year before Mr. Low showed up at the Time Warner Center, the New 

York news media reported the $23.98 million purchase of an apartment 

in the Park Laurel, a few blocks away on West 63rd Street.

在刘特佐现身时代华纳中心的前一年，纽约媒体报道，有人耗资2398万美元在

月桂公园(Park Laurel)购买了一套公寓，那里距离西63街只有几个街区。

The purchase, the reports said, had been made by a shell company on 

behalf of two residents of Switzerland — Peter Edward Chadney and 

Simone Cécile von Graffenried Simperl. Those reports were mistaken. 

The Swiss “buyers” were actually Rothschild bankers. The real party 

behind the shell company was Mr. Low, whose spokesman 

acknowledged to The Times that the condo had been bought by a 

trust benefiting his family.

报道称，这所公寓是由一家空壳公司代表两名瑞士居民——彼得·爱德华·

查德尼(Peter Edward Chadney)和西莫妮·塞西尔·冯·格拉芬瑞德·森姆波尔

(Simone Cécile von Graffenried Simperl)购买的。但这些报道误会了，瑞士

“买主”实际上是罗斯柴尔德信托(Rothschild)的工作人员。真正藏在空壳公司

背后的人物是刘特佐，他的发言人对时报表示，这套公寓的买主是一家信托

基金，基金的受益者是他的家人。

Nearly three years later, the Lows sold it to Mr. Aziz’s shell company 

for $33.5 million in cash — a 40 percent appreciation.

大约三年后，刘特佐家族将这套公寓卖给了阿齐兹的空壳公司，取得了3350万

美元现金。这座公寓升值40%。

The sale involved a string of shell companies. In one spot on the 

property transfer, Mr. Aziz is listed as the “sole director” of Sorcem 

Investments, a British Virgin Islands company that was behind the 

shell company that bought the Park Laurel condo.

这笔交易涉及一系列空壳公司。房产转让文件的一部分内容显示，阿齐兹是

英属维尔京群岛公司Sorcem Investments的“惟一董事”，背后操纵上述

空壳公司购买月桂公园的公寓的，正是这家公司。

The transfer of the Beverly Hills house from Mr. Low to Mr. Aziz was 

even more opaque.

阿齐兹从刘特佐手中购买贝弗利山庄(Beverly Hills)房产的交易则更不透明。

比佛利山这套价格为1750万美元的房屋由与刘特佐相关的空壳公司购进。

After Mr. Low’s shell company, 912 North Hillcrest Road (BH) L.L.C., 

paid $17.5 million for the home — 11,573 square feet, with five 

bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, private gardens and a glowing pyramid in 

the reflecting pool — his trust sold ownership of that shell company 

to a corporate entity controlled by Mr. Aziz, both men acknowledged

to The Times.

刘特佐的空壳公司912 North Hillcrest Road (BH) L.L.C.耗资1750万美元

购买了这套面积为11573平方英尺（约合1075平方米）的豪宅，房中包括

五个卧室、10个卫生间，还有私人花园。在游泳池的水中，还倒映着一个

闪闪发光的金字塔。之后，刘特佐的信托公司将这家空壳公司的所有权卖

给了阿齐兹控制的一家公司，两人都向时报承认了这一事实。

Legally, however, the property itself never changed hands. The same 

shell company appears as owner in the public property records of Los 

Angeles County. It is as if nothing ever happened.

然而，在法律上，这所公寓本身从未易主。洛杉矶县的公开房产记录显示，

上述空壳公司是这所公寓的所有者。就好像交易没有发生过一样。

Mr. Aziz confirmed that he owned the New York condo as well as the 

Beverly Hills house, which is undergoing extensive rebuilding.

阿齐兹确认，他拥有纽约的那座公寓以及贝弗利山庄的豪宅，后者正在进行

大规模整修。

Mr. Low said the transactions were done at fair market value. He sold 

the Beverly Hills property, he said, because he had found another 

nearby. That house cost $39 million.

刘特佐表示，这笔交易以公平市价成交。他表示，自己出售贝弗利山庄的

房产，是因为他在附近找到了另一所房子——耗资3900万美元。

Back in New York, the Time Warner Center was a natural destination 

because friends of Mr. Low already owned apartments there. There 

was also a prominent Malaysian — the brother of Syed Mokhtar al-

Bukhary, a major beneficiary of government contracts and a generous 

backer of Mr. Najib’s political party.

在纽约，时代华纳中心是一个必然的目的地，因为刘特佐的朋友已经在那儿

买了房产，其中包括一名马来西亚知名人物赛莫达·布哈瑞(Syed Mokhtar al-

Bukhary)的兄弟。赛莫达从政府合约中获利颇多，也对纳吉布所在政党给予

了慷慨支持。

With the penthouses on the top five floors of the north tower came 

wraparound views — the Catskills far off to the northwest, the Statue 

of Liberty just beyond the southern tip of Manhattan, and Central Park 

right next door. Mr. Low went to view Penthouse 76B with a retinue of 

women and told people involved in the deal that he would pay $30.55 

million — all cash, as in his other real estate purchases.

时代华纳中心北翼最上面五层的公寓里，可以一览无余地欣赏四周的美景——

西北部遥远的卡茨基尔山、曼哈顿岛南端对面的自由女神像，以及近在咫尺

的中央公园。刘特佐和一名随行的女性查看了顶层公寓76B，并告诉参与该

交易的人员，他会支付3055万美元的现金全款购买公寓。他购买其他房产时，

也是支付现金全款。

One member of the condominium board and another person with direct

 knowledge of the deal said they believed that Mr. Low was buying for 

a group of investors. One of them recalled Mr. Low saying that a main 

investor was the family of Prime Minister Najib.

公寓委员会的一名成员及一名直接了解购房交易的人士表示，他们知道刘特佐

是为一些投资者购买的这所公寓。刘特佐曾对其中一人表示，主要的投资者是

纳吉布总理的家人。

In its statement to The Times, the prime minister’s office said Mr. 

Najib had no financial interest or any agreement related to any Time 

Warner condominiums.

在发给时报的声明中，总理办公室表示，纳吉布与时代华纳中心的公寓不存在

任何经济利益关系，也没有任何相关协议。

Mr. Low's statement said that the condo was owned by his family’s 

trust and that he and other family members “stay there from time to 

time when they are in New York.”

刘特佐在声明中表示，这所公寓归其家族的信托公司所有，他和家人“来纽约

时，有时会到住在这里”。

The professionals who helped Mr. Low buy the Time Warner condo 

included the same Rothschild bankers as in the Park Laurel condo 

transaction, as well as John Opar, a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling, 

who did not respond to inquiries. One of the bankers, Ms. Simperl, 

said she could not discuss the client, who in the same time period briefly 

owned a $33 million condo at the Trump International, across the street 

from the Time Warner Center.

帮助刘特佐购买时代华纳中心公寓的专业人士包括购买月桂公园公寓的

罗斯柴尔德员工，以及谢尔曼·思特灵律师事务所(Shearman & Sterling)的

律师约翰·奥帕(John Opar)，奥帕没有答复相关问题。罗斯柴尔德的工作

人员森姆波尔表示，她不能讨论这名客户的信息。此人同时还在时代华纳

中心对面的特朗普国际大厦(Trump International)短暂拥有过一所价值

3300万美元的公寓。

Janice Chang, the broker the Douglas Elliman firm identified as 

representing the buyer, said, “We work with a lot of people; 

sometimes we know them and sometimes we don’t.” She added: 

“They’re very confidential. We try not to pry.”

道格拉斯·艾丽曼(Douglas Elliman)房地产经纪公司证实，代表买家开展

上述交易的代理人是贾尼丝·张(Janice Chang)。她表示，“我们会与很多人

有业务合作，有时候我们认识这些人，有时候不认识。”她还表示，“他们

都很保密，我们尽量不去打听。”

Hello to Hollywood

进军好莱坞

2013年12月，左起，勒扎·阿齐兹、乔伊·麦克法兰和刘特佐在“华尔街之狼”首映式上。 MICHAEL LOCCISANO/GETTY IMAGES

Mr. Aziz’s film company, Red Granite Pictures, was largely unheard-of when it took over the financing of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” announcing its intentions with a party at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, complete with a fireworks extravaganza and concert by Kanye West. The Hollywood Reporter called it “an audacious hello to the movie industry.”

阿齐兹的电影公司红色花岗岩影业(Red Granite Pictures)投资摄制《华尔街之狼》(The Wolf of Wall Street)时，基本上还不出名。该公司在2011年戛纳电影节(Cannes Film Festival)期间举办派对，宣布了这一计划，当时还安排了烟花表演和坎耶·韦斯特(Kanye West)的音乐会。《好莱坞报道》(The Hollywood Reporter)形容，该公司是在“向电影产业勇敢地打招呼”。

Neither of its founders had the kind of résumé that reflected the experience, or the income, to bankroll a movie company. Mr. Aziz, now 38, had been a junior-level banker at HSBC. His partner, Joey McFarland, was a small-time investor from Kentucky whose entertainment-business apprenticeship included booking paid party appearances for celebrities like Ms. Hilton.

公司两名创始人的履历上，都没有经营电影公司所需的经验，也没有足够的收入。现年38岁的阿齐兹曾是汇丰银行(HSBC)的初级从业人员。他的合伙人乔伊·麦克法兰(Joey McFarland)是来自肯塔基州的小规模投资者，麦克法兰初涉娱乐业时，负责安排希尔顿等名人收费参加活动的档期。

All of which led to a certain amount of curiosity in Hollywood about who was financing Red Granite.

这些事实促使好莱坞对红色花岗岩的投资方产生了好奇。

Over time, the accounts seemed to change.

久而久之，相关的说法也不断改变。

Interviewing a job candidate early on, Mr. Aziz said the financing came from “sovereign wealth,” according to two people with knowledge of the conversation.

两名了解这段谈话的人士透露，阿齐兹最初对一名求职者进行面试时称，资金来自“主权财富”基金。

When Irwin Winkler, an executive producer of “The Wolf of Wall Street” inquired, he was told that Red Granite had “a backer in Malaysia,” he recalled in an interview. He was introduced to the backer, and it was Mr. Low. “He’s the face, as far as I could see, of the financing,” Mr. Winkler said.

《华尔街之狼》执行制片欧文·温克勒(Irwin Winkler)在一次接受采访时回忆道，他询问相关问题时被告知，该公司“在马来西亚有一个资助者”。温克勒经人介绍认识了这位资助者，他就是刘特佐。温克勒表示，“据我所知，他就是投资时出面的人。”

At the film’s December 2013 premiere party at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, several people said, Mr. Low had been introduced to them as the financier. He is thanked in the film’s credits.

几位知情人士表示，2013年，该电影在纽约玫瑰岛舞厅(Roseland Ballroom)举行首映庆典时，主办方介绍称刘特佐是投资人。电影的鸣谢字幕中有他的名字。

The Malaysian explanations ended about a year ago, after Red Granite’s financing became the subject of persistent questions, especially from The Sarawak Report, a London-based news site that focuses on Malaysia.

红色花岗岩的投资方一再受到追问，并特别受到了新闻网站《砂拉越报告》(The Sarawak Report)的关注，但投资方来自马来西亚的说法遭到了否认。《砂拉越报告》是总部位于伦敦的新闻网站，主要关注马来西亚。

Mr. Low says he has not put money into Red Granite or its films. And last summer, a new money man emerged. In an interview with The Times for an article on Red Granite, Mr. Aziz said the principal backer was Mohamed Ahmed Badawy al-Husseiny, chief executive of an Abu Dhabi government-owned company, Aabar Investments, that has done deals with Mr. Low. Mr. Aziz noted that “The Wolf of Wall Street” had received New York tax breaks. He said there were other investors, but recently declined to identify them. “There is no Malaysian money” in Red Granite’s films, he said.

刘特佐表示，他没有为红色花岗岩或其电影投资。去年夏天，一个新的投资人出现了。在就有关红色花岗岩影业的文章接受时报采访时，阿齐兹表示，主要的投资人是阿巴投资公司(Aabar Investments)的首席执行官穆罕默德·艾哈迈德·巴达维·侯赛尼(Mohamed Ahmed Badawy al-Husseiny)。阿巴投资公司归阿布扎比政府所有，与刘特佐有生意往来。阿齐兹指出，《华尔街之狼》享受了纽约的税收减免政策。他说还有其他投资者，但最近又表示不会公开他们的身份。他表示，红色花岗岩影业的电影没有获得“来自马来西亚的资金”。

Even so, both Mr. Low and Mr. Husseiny have been involved with Malaysian government funds, including 1MDB.

即便如此，刘特佐和侯赛尼都与包括1MDB在内的马来西亚政府基金有关涉。

Mr. Husseiny’s company, Aabar, had been a partner with Mr. Low in the failed Claridge’s bid that was backed by 1MDB. Aabar has also done business with affiliates of a company called SRC International, which was spun off from 1MDB and is now owned by the Ministry of Finance.

刘特佐曾在1MDB的支持下，与侯赛尼的阿巴投资合伙竞购凯莱奇酒店，但最终失败。阿巴投资曾与SRC国际(SRC International)的附属公司有业务往来，SRC国际是从1MDB拆分出来的，现在归财政部所有。

Aabar also did a deal with a company outside Malaysia that SRC had helped create, according to two people involved with the transaction. Money from that deal was then set aside to be paid out to other corporate entities. That money was described as consulting fees for Mr. Husseiny and Mr. Low, the people involved said. Similar arrangements existed in other SRC deals, they said they were told by people at SRC.

参与过阿巴公司与SRC一家附属公司的交易的两名人员透露，那次交易的款项被支付给了其他的企业实体。参与交易的人士称，这笔钱被称作侯赛尼和刘特佐的咨询费。他们表示，SRC的员工告诉他们，SRC的其他交易中也存在类似的安排。

SRC’s managing director, a friend of Mr. Low named Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, said that to the best of his knowledge, neither Mr. Low nor Mr. Husseiny had received fees from deals involving SRC or its affiliates. Mr. Low said that he had not consulted for SRC International Sdn Bhd, the Malaysia-based SRC.

SRC的总裁，刘特佐的朋友尼克·费萨尔·卡里法·卡米尔(Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil)称，据他所知，刘特佐和侯赛尼都没有从涉及SRC或其附属公司的交易中获取费用。刘特佐称，他没有为SRC设于马来西亚的SRC国际私人有限公司(SRC International Sdn Bhd)做过咨询。

In a response from his lawyer, Mr. Husseiny did not answer questions about SRC. His investment in Red Granite, he said, was “personal money.”

在通过律师传达的回应中，侯赛尼没有回答有关SRC的问题。他说，他在红色花岗岩影业的投资是“个人资金”。

Discontent at Home

后院起火

Just before Christmas, while visiting Hawaii, Mr. Najib played golf with one of his international allies — President Obama.

就在圣诞节之前，纳吉布访问了夏威夷，并在那里和他的国际盟友奥巴马打了高尔夫球。

It was “golf diplomacy,” the prime minister said when he was criticized in Malaysia for golfing while the country suffered through its worst flooding in many years.

这是“高尔夫外交”，纳吉布说。当时他在国内遭到了批评，因为该国在遭受多年罕见的严重洪灾之际，他却在打高尔夫。

It was also the continuation of Mr. Najib’s long effort to draw his country closer to Washington. Earlier last year, Mr. Obama made an official visit to Malaysia, the first by an American president since 1966. Afterward, he and Mr. Najib said they would “elevate” relations to a “comprehensive partnership” of political and economic ties.

这也是纳吉布长期以来力求让马来西亚和华盛顿走得更近的一次努力。去年早些时候，奥巴马对马来西亚进行了正式访问，那还是1966年以来美国总统首次出访该国。之后，奥巴马和纳吉布宣称，他们将把两国的政治与经济纽带“提升”为“全面合作伙伴关系”。

A White House spokesman did not respond to inquiries about the president’s relationship with Mr. Najib.

白宫发言人没有回应关于奥巴马和纳吉布的关系的询问。

Even as Mr. Najib’s diplomatic standing has risen — Malaysia was recently elected to a two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council — his political star has been falling back home.

尽管纳吉布的外交地位提高了——马来西亚最近在选举中获得了联合国安理会的一个为期两年的理事国席位——他在国内的政治声誉却在走下坡路。

Mr. Najib has positioned himself as a forward-looking moderate. Yet on issues ranging from the freedom of political speech to longstanding laws that favor the Malay majority over the country's ethnic minorities, he has not made good on promised reforms that would run afoul of his more conservative opponents. One long-running case that has rankled critics at home and abroad is his government’s prosecution of a leading opposition figure, Anwar Ibrahim, on sodomy charges; a ruling on Mr. Anwar’s appeal is expected any day.

纳吉布把自己定位为一个具有前瞻思维的温和派。然而，在从政治言论自由，到该国法律长期以来偏向多数族裔而不利于少数族裔等问题上，他曾承诺要冲破保守派对手可能施加的阻力，对这些方面加以改革，但并未兑现承诺。一个久拖不决的案子在马来西亚国内外激起了批评：他的政府以鸡奸罪名起诉了反对派领导人安瓦尔·易卜拉欣(Anwar Ibrahim)；针对安瓦尔的上诉裁决即将出台。

In the 2013 elections, the opposition won the popular vote for the first time in more than four decades. Mr. Najib kept his job only because the allocation of seats in Parliament was weighted to favor rural areas, where his party’s coalition was strong. Within hours of the announcement, crowds filled the streets of Kuala Lumpur in protest.

在2013年的选举中，反对派在40多年的时间里第一次赢得了多数选票。纳吉布之所以还能保住总理之位，仅仅是因为议会席位在分配上有利于乡村地区，而其党派牵头的政治联盟在乡村地区很有影响力。消息一出，抗议的人群涌上了吉隆坡街头。

One of the toughest areas for Mr. Najib’s party was Mr. Low’s home state, Penang.

纳吉布的党派最难获胜的地方之一，是刘特佐的家乡槟城。

In the weeks leading up to the vote, Mr. Low helped a newly formed group, the 1Malaysia Penang Welfare Club. The club gave out free food and beer, as well as “lucky draw” tickets for bicycles and other prizes, and Mr. Low flew in musicians like Busta Rhymes and Ludacris for what was described as a nonpolitical concert.

在投票前的几周前，刘特佐协助成立了一个名为一马槟城福利俱乐部(1Malaysia Penang Welfare Club)的组织。它提供免费的食物和啤酒，以及“幸运抽奖”票，可以抽取自行车等奖品。刘特佐还举办了一个号称与政治无关的演唱会，请来巴斯达韵(Busta Rhymes)和卢达克里斯(Ludacris)等艺人献唱。

2013年，刘特佐（中间踩踏板的人）在马来西亚乔治市载送巴斯达韵。刘特佐邀请当红音乐家们参加了一马槟城福利俱乐部举办的聚会。 MALAY MAIL ONLINE

The club’s leader was Mr. Low’s close friend, Mr. Geh, who said the mission of the group was charity. But opposition figures in Penang said the prizes and concert were aimed at recruiting votes for Mr. Najib’s party.

福利俱乐部的领导者是刘特佐的密友倪祖韩。他表示，该团体是个慈善机构。不过，槟城的反对派人士称，这些奖品和音乐会旨在为纳吉布的党派拉选票。

“Jho wanted to show that he could call the shots in Penang,” said Lim Guan Eng, the chief minister and an opposition member.

“刘特佐想表明，他可以在槟城呼风唤雨，”槟城首席部长、反对党成员林冠英(Lim Guan Eng)说。

In the end, the governing party won only a quarter of the parliamentary races in Penang, and Mr. Lim was re-elected.

最终，执政党在槟城仅获得了四分之一的议会席位，林冠英再次当选。

Since then, Mr. Najib’s standing has grown only more precarious, as criticism has spread from the opposition to factions of his own party.

此后，纳吉布的地位变得更不稳定，因为批评的声音已经从反对派蔓延到了他自己的党派。

Over the summer, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who led the country for 22 years and retains considerable influence, publicly denounced Mr. Najib and called on him to reform 1MDB. And while speculation that Mr. Najib would be pushed out at the annual party congress in November proved unfounded, weeks later, an official from his party called for a police investigation of 1MDB and said he would file a complaint against the prime minister if no action was taken.

去年夏天，执政22年且仍有相当的影响力的马来西亚前总理马哈蒂尔·穆罕默德(Mahathir Mohamad)对纳吉布进行了公开谴责，并敦促他改革1MDB。有人推测纳吉布会在11月的年度党代会中被迫下台，不过这并未成为现实。但数周后，他所在党派的一名官员敦促警方调查1MDB。此人表示，如果不采取行动，就会提出针对总理的申述。

In January, 1MDB officials responded to the controversy by appointing a new president, a banker named Arul Kanda. The appointment created its own flurry of questions.

今年1月，1MDB对争议做出回应，任命了一位名为阿鲁·甘达(Arul Kanda)的银行家为新总裁。而该任命本身也引发了一系列问题。

In 2008, as Mr. Low was working to bring Middle Eastern money to Malaysia, he helped a Malaysian bank, RHB Capital, raise money from the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, where Mr. Arul soon became an executive. The next year, Mr. Arul joined a board of RHB.

2008年，刘特佐把一些中东资金引入马来西亚时，帮助马来西亚银行兴业资本(RHB Capital)从阿布扎比商业银行(Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank)筹集了资金。阿鲁很快就成为该行的一名高管。第二年，阿鲁进入了兴业资本的董事会。

In mid-January, the Malaysian press reported that Mr. Arul said that any insinuations about connections to “certain individuals” were unfair. “My C.V. should speak for itself,” he said.

1月中旬，马来西亚媒体报道，阿鲁表示，那些影射他与“某些人”有关系的报道均有失公允。“我的履历能说明一切，”他说。

An Evolving Image

不断变幻的形象

Last September, Mr. Najib traveled to the United States for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. He and his wife usually stay at the Time Warner Center when they are in New York, and they did so this time as well — at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.

去年9月，纳吉布总理前往美国出席联合国大会的开幕式。在纽约的时候，他与夫人一般下榻在时代华纳中心，这一次也不例外——他们选择了楼里的文华东方酒店(Mandarin Oriental)。

2014年，一个由刘特佐（右二）领导的基金会承诺向关注人道问题的新闻机构“联合国新闻社”(IRIN)投资2500万美元。

Mr. Low was in town, too — for a Social Good Summitsponsored by his foundation, featuring speakers like Melinda Gates, Ed Norton and Alicia Keys — and he and the prime minister engaged in a bit of a pas de deux at the Mandarin Oriental: Mr. Najib arrived in the hotel lobby with his entourage and went upstairs; within minutes, Mr. Low followed for what he later described as a “courtesy social call.” Less than 10 minutes later, the two men came downstairs and took separate exits from the building.

刘特佐当时亦身在纽约，为的是参加自家基金会赞助的社会公益峰会(Social Good Summit)。峰会的演讲者中包括梅琳达·盖茨(Melinda Gates)、爱德华·诺顿(Ed Norton)和艾丽西亚·凯斯(Alicia Keys)等人。刘特佐与纳吉布在文华东方共享了一小段二人时间：纳吉布及其随行人员抵达酒店大堂，随后上楼；几分钟后，刘特佐也跟了上去——他后来将此次会面称为“礼节性的社交拜访”。不到10分钟后，两人下了楼，分别走不同的出口离开了这栋大厦。

Lately, Mr. Low has been emphasizing that he is investing his family’s money and no longer managing money for investors and friends.

近来，刘特佐一直强调他在拿自己家族的钱来投资，没再帮投资者或友人管理资金。

He has been broadening his family’s business portfolio, making high-profile deals with the Abu Dhabi government and other Middle Eastern investors. In 2012, his family joined a group that bought EMI Music Publishing for $2.2 billion, and the next year, it was a principal investor in the $660 million purchase of the Park Lane Hotel in New York.

他在不断扩大自家生意的范畴，与阿布扎比政府等中东投资者进行了几笔颇为高调的交易。2012年，他的家族跻身一群投资者之列，参与了以22亿美元收购百代音乐出版公司(EMI Music Publishing)的交易。接下来的一年，它成为了价值6.6亿美元的纽约柏宁酒店(Park Lane Hotel)收购案的主要投资者。

After portraying himself for years as a friend of people with money — and saying in the 2010 interview with The Star that he came from a “fairly O.K. family” — he has started to say that he was born with it himself. Last fall, he did an interview with The Wall Street Journal, which reported that his grandfather had made a fortune in mining and liquor investments in Thailand. The Journal’s account — which said the Low family had a $1.75 billion fortune and called Mr. Low a “scion” — was immediately picked up in Malaysia.

在很长一段时间里，刘特佐都自称是富人的朋友，并在2010年接受《星报》采访时表示自己“出身平平”。但后来，他开始自称生来富足。去年秋季，他告诉《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)，祖父通过在泰国的矿业及酒业生意积累了财富。文中表示刘氏家族的资产达17.5亿美元，并称刘特佐是“富豪家族后人”。这样的说法很快在马来西亚传播开来。

As befits the modern scion, Mr. Low has lately begun trading in another asset class: contemporary art. His entry into the art market has generated buzz both for his youth and for the fact that he has become such a significant force so fast. Last summer, he made the ARTnews list of the world’s 200 leading private collectors.

与这种“当代富豪家族后人”身份相称的是，刘特佐近来开始在另一个资产类别中进行交易，那就是当代艺术。他进军艺术品市场之举引发了不少讨论，一来是他年纪轻轻，二来是他以极快的速度蹿升为一股不容小觑的势力。去年夏天，他登上了ARTnews的全球私人藏家200强榜单。

The art market is even more opaque than real estate, so that list is based not on actual sales data but on the assessments of people in the industry who know about collectors’ holdings. According to two people familiar with Mr. Low’s activities in the art world, though, he has taken a liking to pop art.

艺术品市场比房地产市场更不透明，因此这份榜单依据的并不是实际的交易金额，而是知晓藏家手中藏品状况的业内人士。不过，根据对刘特佐在艺术圈的活动知情的两名人士的描述，他喜好波普艺术。

“Inserting a Jho Low at the top of the market — who buys pictures over $20 million, $30 million, $40 million — it swings the market,” one of them said.

“刘特佐不惜花两千多万、三四千万美元来买画——有这么一个人闯入顶级市场，是会左右这个市场的，”其中一人表示。

To the public, of course, the purchaser is anonymous. But among the purchases Mr. Low has been involved in, they said, are Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Dustheads,” for $48.8 million.

当然，公众并不知道这位匿名买家究竟是谁。前述知情人士透露，牵涉到刘特佐的作品中，包括以4880万美元成交的让-米切尔·巴斯奎特(Jean-Michel Basquiat)的《瘾君子》(Dustheads)。

Asked if his family owned the painting, Mr. Low said he “did not purchase ‘Dustheads’ artwork on behalf of any investor.” Asked about his involvement in the art market, he replied, “The Low family is interested in fine art.”

当被问到其家族是否拥有此画时，刘特佐表示，自己“未曾代表任何投资者买入《瘾君子》这一作品”。又被问及他本人在艺术品市场的涉猎时，他回答，“刘氏家族对艺术是感兴趣的。”