KUALA LUMPUR – The trial over the plundering of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund continues with two former Goldman Sachs colleagues set to go against each other in a courtroom in Brooklyn, New York today.
Roger Ng, former head of investment banking in Malaysia for the global financial services company, is charged with conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law.
Prosecutors are set to call in Tim Leissner, Ng’s former boss at the bank’s Southeast Asia branch, as their key witness.
During the opening statements at Ng’s trial on Monday in the Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors alleged that he had received millions in compensation for aiding the embezzlement of funds from 1MDB, reported Reuters.
In 2018, Leissner had pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery charges, further agreeing to cooperate with the government’s examination into the case.
Ng, however, has pleaded not guilty.
Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in his opening statement that Ng had no part in the plan allegedly executed by Leissner together with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who acted as a middleman for deals where Goldman helped 1MDB sell US$6.5 million in bonds.
Low was indicted in the United States alongside Ng in 2018. The accused mastermind behind the scheme has not been arrested by either US or Malaysian authorities.
Reuters reported that Low’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the new agency, US prosecutors claim that Goldman earned US$600 million in payment from the deals, and that roughly US$4.5 billion of the funds raised were embezzled.
Since then, Goldman has paid a nearly US$3 billion fine and also arranged for its Malaysian subsidiary to plead guilty in a US court.
Leissner’s testimony is expected to start at 10.30pm (Malaysian time) today. – The Vibes, February 16, 2022
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