Malaysia seeks to negotiate with Goldman to recover $ 600 million worth of 1MDB



[ad_1]

Bloomberg pic

NEW YORK: Malaysia is seeking to negotiate directly with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to recover more than US $ 600 million from the fundraising for the troubled 1MDB state fund, confirmed Anwar Ibrahim, the country's pending leader.

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 in an interview in Istanbul on November 27. "They have been hit hard and we have several options: to negotiate with them, which is probably best for Malaysia," said Anwar. or litigation, he said.

Malaysia has begun preliminary talks with the United States Department of Justice to get help to recover the funds, Anwar said. The United States has initiated forfeiture proceedings against assets worth US $ 1.7 billion that would have been purchased with stolen money at 1MDB, including mansions in California, condos luxury in New York, jewelry, artwork and a yacht owned by the fugitive financier Low Taek. Jho.

The yacht has since been auctioned as part of a judicial sale process. The auctions were closed yesterday.

Global 1MDB investigations have accelerated since the new Malaysian government reopened a national inquiry and Tim Leissner, Goldman's former president for Southeast Asia, pleaded guilty to conspiring to whitewash. money and violating foreign laws on corruption.

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

Talks with Goldman will begin with Malaysia, which will ask for at least $ 600 million, said Anwar. The country hopes to obtain a higher amount as the negotiations continue. The bank earned $ 593 million for organizing three bond sales, which raised $ 6.5 billion for 1MDB, 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?"

[ad_2]
Source link