Malaysia seeks to negotiate with Goldman for $ 600 million and more – Nation



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ISTANBUL (Bloomberg): Malaysia is seeking to negotiate directly with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to recover more than US $ 600 million (R5.5 billion) through the raising of funds for troubled public fund 1MDB, the leader in waiting for the country, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed.

Goldman has lost US $ 11 billion from its market value since November 12, Anwar said the country was seeking a "full refund" of what the bank had done to organize the sale of bonds for 1MDB.

Anwar expects market pressure to be enough to push the lender to come to the negotiating table, but notes that a lawsuit is a second option.

"We are quite optimistic about their response," Anwar said recently in an interview in Istanbul.

"They have been hit hard by all this and we have several options: to negotiate with them, which is probably better for Malaysia, or a dispute," he added.

Anwar said Malaysia had started preliminary talks with the US Department of Justice to get help to recover the funds.

The United States has filed lawsuits for the forfeiture of assets worth US $ 1.7 billion, including mansions in California, luxury condos in New York, jewelry, works of art Art and a yacht owned by the fugitive financier Low Taek. Jho.

The yacht has since been auctioned as part of a court auction process, with bids likely to end on Wednesday.

Global investigations of 1MDB have grown since the reopening of an investigation by the new Malaysian government and Tim Leissner, former Goldman president for Southeast Asia, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and violate foreign laws of corruption.

Goldman spokesman Edward Naylor referred to a previous comment by Bloomberg that commissions reflected "the risks we were assuming at the time, especially the evolution of credit spreads related to specific obligations, hedging costs and underlying market conditions ".

Talks with Goldman will begin with Malaysia, which aims to get at least $ 600 million, said Anwar. The country hopes to obtain a higher amount as the negotiations continue.

The bank made $ 593 million for organizing three bond sales that raised $ 6.5 billion for 1 MBD, which was "exorbitant," he said.

"We hope this can be resolved fairly quickly," Anwar said. "How can you refuse to cooperate when you understand that billions have been squandered in public funds?" – Bloomberg

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