KUALA LUMPUR – After the salacious reveal of a pricey affair between former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner and former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan, Malaysians are left wondering where the multi-million dollar home is in London.
According to the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, Rohana has a house registered to her name on Montpelier Street in London. However, it is unclear if this is the home Leissner paid US$10 million (RM41.9 million) for to buy her silence over his wrongdoings in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
Montpelier Street is in the Knightsbridge area, one of the most expensive locales in London. It is a five-minute walk to luxury departmental store Harrods and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design.
It is also near Hyde Park – the largest of four royal parks that links the entrance of Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Green Park past the main entrance to Buckingham Palace.
According to UK property platform The Move Market, the 2,917sq ft property was last sold in October 2014 for £6,850,000 (RM38.8 million).
The property is described as a five-bedroom freehold terraced house and ranked as the second most expensive property in the SW7 1HD postcode, with a valuation of £5,393,000.
Since it last sold in October 2014, its value has decreased by £1,457,000 or 21.3%.
At the trial of former Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng on Tuesday, Leissner claimed that Rohana “blackmailed” him into buying the house on the threat of spilling the beans on his involvement in 1MDB and the theft of billions of Malaysian taxpayer money.
He said he bought the house in 2013 at the end of his 10-year relationship with Rohana – who he said he left for celebrity model and fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons.
It is speculated that the property changed names from Leissner to Rohana’s in 2014.
“Ms Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, Kimora,” Leissner was quoted as telling the jury.
“If I didn’t buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time, 2013, I was very fearful of that.”
He added that he disclosed his affair with Rohana to his then boss, former Goldman Asia head Richard Gnodde.
Leissner claimed that it was a sensitive issue because the investment bank had businesses with Astro and Gnodde told him “be careful about relationships with clients”.
“Pretty much everybody in our Southeast Asia territory knew it.”
Rohana left Astro in 2019 while Leissner and Simmons were reportedly separated in 2020. – The Vibes, February 24, 2022
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