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Goldman Sachs Group Inc has "cheated" Malaysia for its transactions with the 1MDB public fund, which is under investigation for bribery and money laundering, said today Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at CNBC.
The United States, Malaysia and at least four other countries are investigating the disappearance of billions of dollars from 1MDB, founded by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
US prosecutors filed criminal charges against two former Goldman Sachs bankers earlier this month. One of them, Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the law on corrupt practices abroad.
Goldman Sachs collected approximately $ 600 million (RM 2.515 billion) in fees for its work with 1MDB, which included three bond issues in 2012 and 2013, which earned $ 6.5 billion (RM 27.255 billion).
Mahathir said "that there is evidence that Goldman Sachs has committed wrongdoing".
"We were obviously deceived by the respect of the rules by Goldman Sachs employees," he said in an interview.
The bank's compliance checks "do not work very well," he added.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong declined to comment on the allegation. Yesterday, the bank denied any wrongdoing.
Goldman Sachs shares fell to their lowest level in almost two years yesterday, after Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Malaysia would request a "full refund" from the bank for fees resulting from transactions with 1MDB .
The US Department of Justice said that about 4.5 billion US dollars (18.87 billion RM at the current rate) had been diverted by 1MDB by senior fund officials and their collaborators between 2009 and 2014.
Najib was charged with corruption in Malaysia as part of the 1MDB investigation. He pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
A Malaysian businessman, Low Taek Jho, has also been indicted by US prosecutors. He remains on the run.
– Reuters
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