PETALING JAYA: Tune Talk chief executive officer Jason Lo has admitted being arrested in Dubai last September, but denied it had to do with possession of drugs.
He told The Edge Markets that he was sent to a police lock-up after he attempted to help his friend who had tried to break up a fight.
“I landed in Dubai, at the airport my friend tries to stop a fight. Then he gets hit and I jump the guy who turns out to be an undercover cop,” Jason told the business daily, following a Harian Metro report that a CEO of a Malaysian telecommunication company had been arrested at the Dubai International Airport shortly after arrival from Amsterdam.
The paper, quoting a source, said authorities found drugs hidden in his luggage, and detained him for two weeks at the airport’s detention centre before he was charged and sent to the Al-Aweer central prison to serve his sentence.
But Jason said his time in lock-up was prolonged because the undercover cop failed to give his statement.
“I go to lock up and this guy stalls his statement for weeks. It was horrible. Not as horrible as coming out and hearing rumours of being locked up for every other reason under the sun,” said the singer.
Earlier, FMT contacted Dubai police, who asked to contact them “via the diplomatic channels”.
But checks with Wisma Putra, the Home Ministry and the Malaysian police drew a blank, with each saying they had no details on the case.
The arrest was reportedly on Sep 18, a day before Dubai hosted an annual telecommunication conference, “Telecoms World Middle East 2017”.
Jason was the sole Malaysian speaker listed on the conference website.
When contacted, Tony Fernandes, whose Tune Group owns Tune Talk, rubbished news of Jason’s detention.
“No such thing… Where do you get this rubbish?” he told FMT on Wednesday.
Fernandes said he had just spoken with Jason.
“He took a break. He’s going to be doing something different for me,” added the aviation tycoon.