KUALA LUMPUR – Former Astro CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan who was implicated by allegations from former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s testimony in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial in the United States has confirmed that she had given her statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
In a brief statement from her lawyers at Valen, Oh and Partners, Rohana said today: “I refer to the allegations appearing in the media about me.
“I’ve attended at the office of the MACC and given them my full cooperation in their investigations,” said Rohana.
On February 23, Leissner had revealed to the United States justice system of his alleged affair with Rohana and how she allegedly blackmailed him for a US$10 million (RM42 million) home in the United Kingdom.
Bloomberg had reported that the pair had a relationship between 2003 to 2013, when Leissner called it off so he could be with his then future wife, Kimora Lee Simmons, who is a model and celebrity in the US.
“Ms Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with 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, in 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 to “be careful about relationships with clients”.
“Pretty much everybody in our Southeast Asia territory knew it,” he said
Rohana left Astro in 2019. – The Vibes, February 25, 2022
