Goldman ‘must honour 1MDB deal’
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim demanded that Goldman Sachs honour its settlement with the government for its role in the 1MDB scandal, saying the Wall Street firm shouldn’t use its financial strength to dictate terms.
The abuse of the sovereign state fund was made possible because of “complicity” from institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Mr Anwar told Bloomberg Television in his first interview with international media since becoming prime minister.
“My only appeal is for them to settle this deal with Malaysia because 1MDB is known throughout the world,” Mr Anwar said. “It is there in the books and I think that Goldman Sachs should come out clean and deal with Malaysia.”
State development fund 1MDB became the centre of a multi-billion dollar scandal that spawned probes in Asia, the US and Europe. Goldman Sachs in 2020 admitted its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history, reaching multiple international settlements in the billions of dollars to end probes into its fundraising for 1MDB.
The Malaysian government in 2018 turned its attention to Goldman Sachs for its work raising $6.5 billion (213 billion baht) in 2012 and 2013 for 1MDB, formally known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The bonds were earmarked for redevelopment but all but $2 billion of the money was diverted to pay bribes to government officials, US federal prosecutors said.
Authorities spent years tracking funds that allegedly flowed from 1MDB into high-end art and real estate, a super yacht and, ironically, the hit Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street, chronicling an earlier era of financial crimes.
The settlement announced in July 2020 called for Goldman Sachs to pay $2.5 billion while guaranteeing the return of $1.4 billion of 1MDB assets seized by authorities around the world, in exchange for Malaysia dropping charges against the bank.
At the time of its filing, Goldman Sachs had said the parties had a threemonth window to try and resolve the dispute.