Former head of Southeast Asia sales and trading at Goldman Sachs, banker Ng Chong Hwa, known as Roger Ng, is currently facing a litany of charges in the United States in relation to money laundering and bribery over 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
According the sources, Bloomberg reports that Ng is most concerned with fighting extradition to the US, where he would join his former Goldman colleague, Tim Leissner, who has already plead guilty to his Department of Justice rap sheet. Arrested in Malaysia last week at the behest of US authorities, he has since filed motions to review both his continued detention, as well as plans to extradite him to the US to face his charges.
Two months ago, Singapore ordered that the millions sitting in the city-state’s bank accounts that had been pilfered by various individuals from 1MDB were to be returned to Malaysia, a special bank account was set up to do just that – with S$15.3 million (RM46.6 million, US$ 11 million) having been transferred already.
Report in Bloomberg are now emerging that the former banked has agreed to hand over S$40 million (RM121 million, US$29 million) in cash to Singaporean authorities, who will return the money to Malaysia. Singapore had previously frozen the banker’s accounts.
Something tells us that while Malaysian officials appreciate the gesture in returning part of what may have been taken, United States authorities will probably remain unmoved.
Leissner has already told the US Department of Justice that he did indeed bribe officials to raise funds, arranging them as debt offerings that would incur higher fees for his employer. Mr. Kimora Lee has also plead guilty to siphoning off more than US$200 million from 1MDB into accounts controlled by him and a relative.
Not the greatest look.
Although Ng resigned from his post in April of 2014, as the gravity of the scandal was just hitting international headlines, he is still said to have played a key role in raising US1.75 billion in 1MDB bonds for the bank two year prior.
Global banking powerhouse Goldman Sachs has been under the microscope for their part in raising US$6.5 billion for the sovereign wealth fund, and for the handsome, well-above market rate fee they took from the raising of three bonds.
Their current CEO, David Solomon (who also spins as DJ Sol, if you’re into weird facts like us), has said they feel “horrible” about what their former employees did, which is pretty much the kind of sorry you get when no one really feels that bad about anything.
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