KUALA LUMPUR – The defence team trained its guns on prosecution star witness Tim Leissner during its closing statement yesterday, saying client Roger Ng was the “fall guy” and it was former boss Leissner who aided fugitive Low Taek Jho in defrauding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Ng’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the court that Leissner named Ng as co-conspirator because the witness wanted “to close the biggest deal of his life” and stay out of prison, reported Bloomberg.
“When you go back to that jury room, ask yourself, ‘Can I really rely on a single thing Leissner said?’.”
Agnifilo also tore into Leissner’s credibility, describing his testimony over a particular “bribery” chart that Low drew up in 2012 as “ridiculous”.
He added that Leissner turned government witness for nearly three years before bringing up the chart.
“Jho Low is not going to fill a room and say, ‘Hey, I want you to know who I am going to bribe. Jho Low is not stupid enough to make an international bribery announcement,” said the lawyer.
He also accused Leissner of being involved in “side deals” with Low and had attempted to take the 1MDB scheme to a different bank.
Earlier, Agnifilo said the US government already had the person responsible – which was Leissner – for the financial scandal.
“Tim Leissner knew that he could go into this and lie, and so far, he’s done nothing but win. But he’s not believable. Roger Ng is basically the fall guy and Leissner is looking to close the biggest deal of his life.”
He then said Ng had raised red flags over Low’s interest in being a Goldman Sachs private client, including his source of wealth, and the Penang businessman’s deals before 1MDB.
As for the US$35 million (RM147.68 million) that Leissner admitted to paying Ng as kickbacks, Agnifilo maintained as payment for a separate deal in China between the two men’s wives.
But Leissner, in his witness testimony, alleged that he concocted this “cover story” with Ng and their wives to justify the US$35 million.
Of ‘glory and greed’
Meanwhile, prosecutor Alixandra Smith, in her closing statement, argued that Ng took part in the 1MDB scheme for “glory and greed”, including seeking millions of dollars in kickbacks, and Ng wanted to make partner at Goldman Sachs.
“While the defendant was making millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs, he wanted glory to move up from being a managing director to a partner. Most importantly, he wanted the money promised, which was US$35 million,” she was quoted as saying.
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.
Ng, who worked under Leissner, was charged in the federal court in New York in 2018 for bribery and laundering money siphoned from 1MDB during his time as Goldman Sachs’ head of investment banking in Malaysia and faces up to 20 years’ jail if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.
Leissner, who is a former partner at investment and financial firm Goldman Sachs, had pleaded guilty in 2018 for his involvement in the financial scandal. The company reached a deal with the United States Justice Department to pay more than US$2 billion for its role.
In February, Leissner had told the court that it was “greed and ambition” that motivated his involvement in the 1MDB deal.
He said bringing 1MDB’s multi-million-dollar deal with the US investment bank “instantaneously made us heroes”.
He alleged that Ng had in 2008 fostered a relationship with Low, who was then the intermediary between Goldman and 1MDB, Reuters reported.
It later led to Goldman Sachs selling US$6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB and making US$600 million in fees. – The Vibes, April 5, 2022
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