KUALA LUMPUR – Details of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho’s relationship with Goldman Sachs and former bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng have once again muddied as a witness debunked part of Leissner’s testimony given last month.
Low, who was recommended to Goldman Sachs as a private client in 2009, was rejected in June 2010 partly due to “red flags” Ng submitted in a report, stating he did not find the businessman’s claims credible, said former compliance officer Patrick Kidney.
He took the stand as a prosecution witness and contradicted Leissner’s testimony where the disgraced banker alleged Ng proposed Low as a client again in 2011 and he supported it.
Kidney testified that it was Leissner who proposed Low as a private client in 2011.
When asked by Ng’s defence counsel, Kidney said he was surprised and it was unexpected.
“As far as I was concerned it was an open-and-shut case. To me it was not to be considered for a client relationship,” he was quoted as saying.
He also told the court that he was to take Low’s claims about his wealth “at face value”, and the letters of recommendation appeared to be written by the same individual.
Kidney later read to the jury an excerpt of a March 2010 draft summary that included Ng saying that “he had not heard of the individual apart from meeting with him on a single occasion”.
On the same occasion, Ng wrote that he was introduced to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Kidney said there were other factors that played into rejecting Low, citing relationships with “politically exposed persons” and information by Low that was “going in circles”.
He added that the team was sent a news story that accused Low of taking part in corruption.
Prosecutors also provided emails stating that Ng met with Low more than once – in New York City on October 31, 2009 and the next day – but it was alleged that Ng told Kidney’s team otherwise.
Ng, 49, is facing accusations of pocketing millions of dollars in kickbacks in the 1MDB deal, with allegations of money laundering and violating anti-bribery laws.
Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to a count of conspiracy to violate United States anti-bribery laws and to conspiring to launder money.
Low was charged in the US in 2018. However, he remains a fugitive. The trial resumes next week. – AFP, March 11, 2022
