Ng’s actions caused ‘immeasurable’ harm to Malaysia, says prosecutor

 

Roger Ng should be convicted of helping loot billions from 1MDB, the US prosecutor says in her closing argument. (AP pic)

NEW YORK: Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng should be convicted of helping loot billions of dollars from 1MDB and causing “immeasurable” harm, a US prosecutor told jurors in her closing argument on Monday.

But a lawyer for Ng, Goldman’s former top investment banker for Malaysia, countered that he had been falsely implicated in the looting by his former boss. Tim Leissner, the government’s star witness.

Ng, 49, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-corruption law.

Prosecutors said he helped Leissner embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.

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Assistant US attorney Alixandra Smith said Ng received more than US$35 million in kickbacks from the “brazen” bribery and money laundering scheme, and must be held accountable.

“The harm to the people of Malaysia is immeasurable,” she told the jury. “It is deeply unfair to everyone else who plays by the rules.”

Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said during his closing argument that there was “no evidence” his client was guilty.

Agnifilo instead blamed Leissner, 52, who pleaded guilty to similar charges as Ng, and who the defence believes cooperated with prosecutors in the hope of getting a lighter sentence.

“He never stopped lying ever, and he didn’t stop lying in this courtroom,” Agnifilo said, referring to Leissner.

The nearly two-month trial stemmed from one of the biggest financial scandals in history.

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Prosecutors have said Goldman helped 1MDB raise US$6.5 billion through three bond sales, but that US$4.5 billion was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.

Ng is the first, and likely only, person to face trial in the US over the scheme. Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly US$3 billion fine and its Malaysian unit agreed to plead guilty.

Agnifilo has said Ng introduced Leissner to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, the scheme’s suspected mastermind.

Smith acknowledged that Leissner was seeking leniency by testifying, but said other testimony backed up his story.

“What he told you about the crimes he committed with the defendant and others is backed up by and consistent with other evidence,” she said. “You already know the defendant is guilty from the other evidence.”

Leissner testified that he sent Ng US$35 million in kickbacks with the men agreeing to tell banks processing the transfers a “cover story” that the money was from a legitimate business venture between their wives.

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Ng’s wife, Lim Hwee Bin, testified last week that she invested US$6 million in the mid-2000s in a Chinese company owned by the family of Leissner’s then wife, Judy Chan.

She said the US$35 million in alleged kickbacks to her husband were in fact her return on that investment.

Low was indicted in 2018 alongside Ng. Malaysian authorities say Low is in China, which Beijing denies. - FMT