Goldman duo’s convictions prove 1MDB settlement ‘questionable’, says Johari

 

Johari Ghani is urging the government to urgently recover funds forfeited by the US Department of Justice as 1MDB bonds worth US$3 billion are up for payment this month.

PETALING JAYA: The criminal conviction of two former Goldman Sachs employees points conclusively to the “questionable” nature of the 1MDB settlement agreement entered by Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration with the investment bank, an MP said.

Titiwangsa MP Johari Ghani was speaking to FMT in advance of the expected sentencing of former banker Roger Ng by US district judge Margo Brodie on March 9.

Ng was convicted of conspiring with his former boss, Tim Leissner, and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, to bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to facilitate fraudulent 1MDB bond deals worth US$6.5 billion.

Leissner, who had himself pleaded guilty to similar charges more than four years ago, has been cooperating with prosecutors to secure a lenient sentence.

“We agreed to receive only US$2.5 billion out of the US$6.5 billion claimed. The bank also agreed to assist with recovery of an additional US$1.4 billion in assets,” said Johari.

The former second finance minister said the low settlement quantum suggested there was “something amiss” in the deal.

“We also seem to be in a deadlock with Goldman Sachs over the recovery of assets, with the bank failing so far to secure the US$1.4 billion promised,” he said.

“Goldman Sachs is clearly taking advantage of the weakness of our negotiators in drawing up the deal. We cannot allow this to happen.

“Leissner and Ng, who were part of the bank’s senior management, were at the heart of the fraud. Their wrongdoing can be attributed to Goldman Sachs to hold the bank fully accountable for all 1MDB losses.

“On our part, we have nothing to hide. We are simply trying to recover losses from the bank whose senior employees have already been convicted in the US for their wrongdoing.”

Johari also called on the government to liaise with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to secure the immediate repatriation of funds forfeited from Leissner and Ng.

“We have an obligation to ensure that these funds are returned to the Treasury as soon as possible to partly fund bonds worth US$3 billion which are due to be paid this month,” he said.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that following Leissner’s conviction, Brodie ordered him to surrender to the DoJ some US$44 million in assets, comprising US$43.7 million (RM195 million) in cash and 3.3 million shares worth US$313 million (RM1.4 billion) in fitness drink company Celsius Holdings Inc.

According to the report, prosecutors are now asking the judge to forfeit another US$35.1 million (RM157.3 million) from Ng. - FMT