Goldman Sachs faces Malaysia summons

MALAYSIAN prosecutors yesterday said they would issue summonses to units of US investment bank Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong, requiring them to respond by June to criminal charges filed against them last year. Soon after being elected in May, 2018, a new government charged three units of Goldman Sachs for misleading investors by making untrue statements and omitting key facts in relation to bond issues totalling $6.5 billion (R94bn) for state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Yesterday, only the Singapore unit of Goldman Sachs appeared at a pre-trial hearing in a Kuala Lumpur court as a respondent. “Fresh summonses will be served on the UK and Hong Kong offices of Goldman Sachs ahead of the next court hearing on June 24,” prosecutor Aaron Paul Chelliah told reporters. The 1MDB scandal played a major role in the electoral defeat that ended Najib Razak’s near-decade in power, and a new government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad promptly re-opened corruption investigations.