Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said there have been no talks with the Goldman Sachs Group Inc so far on the global investment company's efforts to assist Malaysia in recovering funds lost through the 1MDB financial scandal.
Instead, he said the Malaysian government will continue to pursue legal action on the matter.
"There are no discussions with Goldman Sachs but we will continue with the legal process conducted by the attorney-general," Lim told a press conference at the Ministry of Finance in Putrajaya today.
He said this when asked if there was any discussion with Goldman Sachs about the return of money taken from 1MDB.
Last November, Lim demanded that Goldman Sachs return US$588 million it had received in commissions from 1MDB for raising US$6.5 billion in bonds for the state fund in 2012 and 2013.
On Sept 25, Goldman Sachs president and chief operating officer John Waldron said the bank was trying to recover the stolen money for Malaysia.
“We’re looking to put it behind us and get the Malaysian people the money that they deserve,” Waldron said in a Bloomberg Television interview in response to a question about 1MDB.
“We’re focused on getting it behind us and resolving it in an appropriate manner,” Waldron said. “We want the Malaysian people to be taken care of.”
Last November the US Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and former Goldman Sachs employees Tim Leissner and Roger Ng Chong Hwa on multiple criminal charges related to the 1MDB scandal.
Malaysia has filed criminal charges against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc including Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and former director at Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Michael Sherwood, former vice-chairperson of Goldman Sachs Group.
Lim was also asked to comment on an offer by a Hong Kong-based company RRJ Capital to acquire the North-South Highway (Plus) from Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
To this, he said his ministry had not accepted this proposal from the Treasury but received another proposal from it instead.
On Oct 2, business weekly The Edge reported that Hong Kong-based private equity firm RRJ Capital had offered RM3 billion in cash to buy the entire Plus Malaysia limited stock.
If the bid is successful, the company said it will reduce toll rates by some 20 percent across the board.
The proposal was submitted to the Treasury and Works Minister Baru Bian last week. - Mkini
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