Malaysia rejects Goldman Sachs' offer of RM1 bil as 1MDB compensation

KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): Goldman Sachs offered to pay RM1 billion as compensation to the Government for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was speaking to his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-Ocha at the 5th Bloomberg Asean Business summit in Bangkok today, told Bloomberg that Goldman Sachs had offered to pay the Malaysian Government US$240 million or RM1 billion. But the Government had rejected the offer simply because the amount was too little compared to the “big killing” Goldman Sachs made in fees from 1MDB, said Mahathir.

Goldman Sachs was the advisor for the issuance of US$6.5 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB for fees of US$600 million.

To recap, 1MDB's subsidiary, 1MDB Energy Ltd, had issued 10-year bonds worth US$1.75 billion, while 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd had also issued a 10-year US$1.75 billion bond. Meanwhile, 1MDB Global Investments Ltd had issued 10-year US$3 billion bonds.

Former Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng faces four counts in Malaysia of abetting Goldman Sachs in the omission of material facts related to the issue of the bonds.

Ng is currently in the US facing US Department of Justice (DoJ) charges that he had conspired to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi through the bond offerings underwritten by Goldman Sachs.

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