Disgraced former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner has revealed that not only did he score a big deal in Malaysia, he found love too - thrice.
Testifying before a US court in the trial against Roger Ng, Leissner revealed this when the prosecutor asked him about his trip to Beijing in 2009.
Leissner, Ng and Low Taek Jho had travelled to Beijing, coinciding with Najib Abdul Razak's first official trip abroad as prime minister on June 4 and June 5. Najib was received by then Chinese president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.
According to court transcripts, the prosecution showed Leissner email printouts to which the witness explained were related to setting up meetings in Beijing with Low, also known as Jho Low, and also government officials.
When Leissner was asked who he was travelling with, he revealed it was the niece of a former Sarawak chief minister. At the time, Leissner was legally married to someone else.
Prosecutor Drew Rolle: So were you having an affair with Ms [name withheld]?
Leissner: Yes.
Rolle: And who was she, Ms [name withheld]?
Leissner: She was Malaysian and she was the niece of (a former) chief minister of Sarawak.
Rolle: She was related to a government official?
Leissner: She was the niece of the chief minister, yes.
Rolle: At that point had Goldman Sachs done business in Sarawak?
Leissner: Yes, we had.
Leissner revealed that when he was involved with the woman, his employer Goldman Sachs was doing business with Sarawak.
He did not disclose this to Goldman Sachs' control functions despite the company having policies on relationships with relatives of clients or government officials.
Asked if the relationship with the woman benefited him in terms of work for Goldman Sachs, Leissner replied: "Not directly."
He explained that the intermediary for the deal was known as "Mr Seow", who collected a fee for intermediating between Goldman Sachs and Sarawak.
While still legally married, Leissner said he was once engaged to the woman but eventually did not marry her.
Two other affairs
The prosecutor then asked Leissner if there were other client-related persons with whom he had affairs, to which the witness replied there were.
He revealed that he had a “longstanding” relationship with a woman who was a chief executive of a media company since 2003.
He also said he had an affair with the daughter of a Malaysian ambassador to the US.
Malaysiakini is not naming any of the women out of respect for their privacy because they are not involved in the 1MDB affair.
When the prosecutor asked Leissner if Goldman Sachs had benefited from his relationship with the former chief executive of the media company, the witness again replied: "Not directly."
He said while Goldman Sachs did work on the media company's initial public offerings, the couple's relationship was frowned upon by the media company's owner.
Again, Leissner did not report the relationship to Goldman Sachs’ control functions.
US$10m house in London
Leissner conceded he made a lot of money from the 1MDB affair and he spent approximately US$10 million (RM40 million) to buy the former chief executive a house in London.
When asked why, Leissner explained that he bought the house because the woman was very upset that he was ending their relationship after 10 years to marry model Kimora Lee Simmons in 2013.
"She put it to me that we had spent 10 years in a relationship and that if I didn't buy her a house, she would, for example, tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scheme.
"Not that I disclosed all the details to her about that but I did mention to her that I had received money out of that scheme... I was very fearful of that," said Leissner.
Leissner and Simmons had a child in 2015. It is uncertain if they are still together.
Leissner is testifying against his former subordinate Ng, who is charged with money laundering and violating anti-bribery laws in relation to the 1MDB affair. - Mkini
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