Jho Low said money from third 1MDB bond meant to fund election - Leissner

 

Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner has testified that he and his then-colleague Roger Ng did not receive kickbacks from the third bond they raised for 1MDB, worth US$3 billion, despite having collected millions in kickbacks from the two previous bonds raised.

Leissner said Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, had informed him that this is because the money from the third bond – referred to as Project Catalyze – was to be utilised for the coming general election at that time in 2013.

He revealed this while testifying as a star witness in the trial against Ng on Feb 24, 2022, in New York. Ng has been charged with violating US anti-bribery laws and money laundering.

Malaysiakini has sighted the court transcripts from one of the days of Leissner’s testimony.

Prosecutor Drew Rolle: Did you have an understanding as to why it was for this deal you wouldn’t be getting paid for Catalyze?

Leissner: He (Low) said to both Roger and me that there was an election in Malaysia coming and that all monies coming from Project Catalyze needed to be utilised for that election, for election purposes. And there was no space, no room, for getting kickbacks as a result of, you know, needing to pay, needing to fund that election out of Project Catalyze.

Low Taek Jho

Leissner said he was made to understand that it was “common practice” to give out “handouts” to voters.

“So, buying an election in this context meant to me that some of the money that Project Catalyze was raising was going to be used to effectively pay some of those handouts that I had knowledge of that happened in Malaysia,” he said.

However, he added that he does not know where exactly the money from Project Catalyze was going to go and whether then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was going to receive anything personally from it.

Rolle: Personally?

Leissner: Personally, because of course the election funding that I mentioned was geared and aimed towards supporting his winning the election again to be prime minister. So when you’re asking about him, I was referring to him personally.

On the same day, Leissner had also testified that he and Ng each received US$17.5 million in kickbacks for their involvement in the first bond issuance worth US$1.75 billion.

He also said they had received kickbacks for the second bond, also worth US$1.75 billion, though he did not specify how much they received.

Leissner said he was also concerned about the negative press attention on the bond deals at the time as he knew he had been “part of an illegal scheme to make them (the bonds) happen”.

“Also equally we had gotten at Goldman Sachs excessive fees that weren’t normal for transactions of this kind. I drew some comfort at the time from the fact that prime minister Najib had won the election post-Project Catalyze and that comfort sort of outweighed the concerns of the press,” he said. - Mkini