Illustrative image (Photo: The Telegraph )Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysia hasextradited a former Goldman Sachs leader to the US to face criminal chargeslinked to a multi-billion dollar scandal at Malaysia’s state investment fund, 1MalaysiaDevelopment Berhad (1MDB), reported daily financial newspaper The Edge on May6.
Ng Chong Hwa, also known as Roger Ng, leftGoldman Sachs in 2014. He has been detained in Kuala Lumpur since November 1,shortly after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced charges against himfor allegedly laundering funds diverted from the 1MDB fund.
Ng had agreed to be sent to the US, but theproceedings were delayed after Malaysia’s home minister said he should firstface criminal charges in the Southeast Asian nation.
Ng was charged in Malaysia with four countsof abetting the bank to provide misleading statements in the offeringprospectus for 1MDB bond sales.
Malaysian and US authorities agreed lastweek to extradite Ng to the US, The Edge reported.
The newspaper quoted a source as sayingthat he left on May 3 and is now in the US under the watch of the DoJ.
The US attorney general’s office and Ng’slawyer did not comment on the case.
A prosecutor working on Ng’s case, whoasked not to be identified, said the US attorney general would release astatement on the defendant’s status soon.
Aside from Roger Ng, former Goldman Sachsofficial Tim Leissner and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho have also beencharged in the US over 1MDB funds. Leissner has pleaded guilty.
Goldman Sachs is under scrutiny for itsrole as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised 6.5 billionUSD for the 1MDB.
The DoJ has estimated that a total of 4.5billion USD was misappropriated by high-level 1MDB fund officials and theirassociates between 2009 and 2014, including some of the funds that GoldmanSachs helped to raise.
Goldman Sachs has consistently deniedwrongdoing and said certain members of the former Malaysian government and the 1MDBlied to it about how the bond proceeds would be used. –VNA
Ng Chong Hwa, also known as Roger Ng, leftGoldman Sachs in 2014. He has been detained in Kuala Lumpur since November 1,shortly after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced charges against himfor allegedly laundering funds diverted from the 1MDB fund.
Ng had agreed to be sent to the US, but theproceedings were delayed after Malaysia’s home minister said he should firstface criminal charges in the Southeast Asian nation.
Ng was charged in Malaysia with four countsof abetting the bank to provide misleading statements in the offeringprospectus for 1MDB bond sales.
Malaysian and US authorities agreed lastweek to extradite Ng to the US, The Edge reported.
The newspaper quoted a source as sayingthat he left on May 3 and is now in the US under the watch of the DoJ.
The US attorney general’s office and Ng’slawyer did not comment on the case.
A prosecutor working on Ng’s case, whoasked not to be identified, said the US attorney general would release astatement on the defendant’s status soon.
Aside from Roger Ng, former Goldman Sachsofficial Tim Leissner and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho have also beencharged in the US over 1MDB funds. Leissner has pleaded guilty.
Goldman Sachs is under scrutiny for itsrole as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised 6.5 billionUSD for the 1MDB.
The DoJ has estimated that a total of 4.5billion USD was misappropriated by high-level 1MDB fund officials and theirassociates between 2009 and 2014, including some of the funds that GoldmanSachs helped to raise.
Goldman Sachs has consistently deniedwrongdoing and said certain members of the former Malaysian government and the 1MDBlied to it about how the bond proceeds would be used. –VNA
VNA
