Najib seeks Goldman, Leissner 1MDB documents, says report

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): Ex-PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak is asking a US court to let his lawyers seek documents and testimony from Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bloomberg reported today.

This is being done to assist in his defence against criminal charges involving the 1MDB mega scandal.

According to a court filing in New York yesterday, Najib said Goldman Sachs and its former South-east Asia chairman, Tim Leissner, probably had evidence that 1MDB officials schemed to defraud the fund and were now falsely implicating him to avoid responsibility.

Najib also said that efforts made by Leissner and others to hide the money trail misled him to believe that 1MDB funds that went into his accounts were political donations from the Saudi royal family.

Najib said in the filing: “This effort spanned continents and multiple jurisdictions, included the deployment of an array of shell companies, and involved numerous individuals."

A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment. A lawyer for Leissner also did not want to comment on the issue.

Najib, who is on bail after being sentenced to 12 years in jail in July on charges of corruption and money laundering, is expected to appeal the conviction in February next year and faces another four more trials related to the 1MDB scandal.

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