The headquarters of Goldman Sachs (Photo: AFP/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on November 13 said bankers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc "cheated" Malaysia in dealings with the state fund 1MDB.
The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fund is the subject of corruption and money-laundering investigations in several countries.
“Obviously we have been cheated through the compliance by Goldman Sachs people,” the PM was quoted by CNBC as saying.
The US bank earned about 600 million USD in fees for its work with 1MDB, which included three bond offerings in 2012 and 2013 that raised 6.5 billion USD.
US prosecutors filed criminal charges against two former Goldman Sachs bankers earlier this month for many counts such as conspiracy to launder money and commit bribery. However, Goldman Sachs denied all accusations.
On November 12, Goldman Sachs’ share price fell to its lowest in nearly two years after Malaysia’s Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng said his country would seek a full refund of the fees the bank earned from 1MDB deals.
The US, Malaysia and at least four other countries are investigating how billions of US dollar went missing from 1MDB, founded by former PM Najib-Razak in 2009.
After taking office, PM Mahathir declared to give priority to addressing corruption and taking back losses of the 1MDB fund.
Najib was accused of getting involved in the loss of billions of US dollar during transactions with foreigners through the fund. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Malaysian Government set up a special task force to investigate the fund with the support from the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, and other related countries.-VNA
VNA
