Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak today clarified that his children had never worked for Goldman Sachs.
Najib said media reports had given the impression that he was induced by Goldman Sachs with purported offers for his children to work at the disgraced US investment bank.
These media reports were based on the testimony of former Goldman Sachs partner Tim Leissner while testifying as a prosecution witness against his former subordinate Roger Ng, a Malaysian.
Najib said that his children never received the purported offers.
"That's (supposed to be) job offers, OK? Not offers for projects or bribe money," wrote Najib on Facebook.
Leissner told the court that he was informed by Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, via email, that three of Najib's children were seeking employment at Goldman Sachs.
Leissner said he was supportive of Low's request because Najib, who was the prime minister at the time, was an important person to Goldman Sachs.
"Again, the Malaysian business for Goldman was one of the best in Southeast Asia for sure, but even in all of Asia.
"So I felt having the children of the prime minister work for us potentially would be seen not just by the prime minister as a positive but also all our other clients in the country would take notice of that and see that we are well connected," he added.
Based on the court transcripts, Leissner did not state that the three children secured employment with Goldman Sachs.
However, Najib conceded that Leissner had introduced his youngest daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib to TPG Capital in Hong Kong where she served as an "investor relations" professional.
"My daughter worked there for a year. It was a junior position," said Najib.
Low requested job opportunity for Nooryana
Nooryana was Najib's only child to be mentioned in the court transcripts. Leissner said he received an email from Low on June 27, 2011. Therein, Low wrote, Nooryana would like an opportunity to be considered to work for one year at Goldman Sachs.
Leissner told the court that he referred the matter to Goldman Sachs' government relations department due to the sensitivity involved in hiring government-connected children.
He said the government relations department would not support Nooryana's employment and the matter was dropped.
Leissner confirmed that he received Nooryana's CV through Low.
Ng is currently on trial for violating anti-bribery laws, circumventing accounting controls and money laundering. The case is being heard at the New York Eastern District Court.
Leissner’s case
In 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to violating US anti-bribery laws and to conspiring to launder money. He told the courts that bribing Malaysian and UAE officials had helped Goldman Sachs secure a deal to raise US$6.5 billion (RM27 billion) for 1MDB.
1MDB is a company set up in 2009 when Najib was prime minister and finance minister. The company is owned by the Finance Ministry. This company raised RM42 billion through loans and prosecutors claim most of it was squandered.
"Your Honour, the goal of paying bribes and kickbacks was to influence the government officials to take official action so that Goldman Sachs would receive business from 1MDB.
"I took part in the process of paying some of these bribes and kickbacks. I also knew that some of the funds that would be used to pay bribes and kickbacks to government officials would move through the US banking system," Leissner told the court when he pleaded guilty.
Goldman Sachs raked in around US$600 million in commissions in the process. The courts eventually ordered Leissner to forfeit US$44 million.
Goldman Sachs has since paid billions of dollars in fines to various authorities. As for Malaysia, it has pledged US$3.9 billion as part of a settlement. - Mkini
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