Malaysia seeks $7.5B in reparations from Goldman

kuala lumpur — Malaysia is seeking $7.5 billion in reparations from Goldman Sachs Group over its dealings with scandal-linked state fund 1MDB, the reported on Friday, citing the country’s finance minister.

Separately, Bloomberg reported that Singapore has expanded its criminal investigation of 1MDB to include Goldman Sachs, in a sign of increasing scrutiny of the bank’s role in the suspected multi-billion-dollar money laundering scheme.

Malaysian prosecutors this week filed charges against Goldman Sachs in connection with its role as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the first criminal action against the US bank over the scandal.

Goldman Sachs has consistently denied wrongdoing and said certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to the bank about the proceeds of the bond sales.

In addition to the bonds’ total value, Goldman Sachs should also return $1 billion to cover $600 million in fees paid to the bank and bond coupons that were “higher than the market rate”, the quoted Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as saying. Lim also said that reparations should at least be more than $1.8 billion. —