KUALA LUMPUR – Former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan has reportedly agreed to return US$10 million (RM42.3 million at the present exchange rate) in assets she received from alleged ex-lover and former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner.
Utusan Malaysia quoted an anonymous source from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as saying that Rohana has agreed to return the assets which are said to have been misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
The source reportedly said that the process of obtaining the assets is now being actively pursued by the anti-graft agency.
Meanwhile, Zamri Zainul Abidin, director of MACC’s anti-money laundering division, confirmed that MACC is still investigating Rohana’s case in relation to the hefty sum of money she received from Leissner.
“In relation to the assets, the investigation process is still underway,” he said in a statement.
In February, Leissner claimed in a New York court that Rohana had blackmailed him in exchange for her silence on his involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
He alleged that he bought her a US$10 million home in London in 2013 after she had threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB and that the relationship was from 2003 to 2013.
He claimed that Rohana was upset that he was ending the relationship to be with his future wife Kimora Lee Simmons.
The MACC recently began investigating Rohana. She reacted by saying that she would give agency officials her full cooperation in their investigations, and gave her statement to the MACC.
On March 1, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki announced that the commission had frozen around US$10 million in money and assets belonging to Rohana.
He said the case involving Rohana was being investigated under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. – The Vibes, April 13, 2022
