FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng said Goldman Sachs must repay Malaysia the US$588 million (RM2.44 billion) fees it had earned for raising bonds for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and much more.

Goldman Sachs underwrote US$6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB and earned some US$600 million in the deals, which were closed with bribes to government officials while stolen money was laundered with the help of its bankers.

“Goldman Sachs had done Malaysia wrong. I think they should repay Malaysia the fees,” Lim said during a special briefing on Budget 2019 in Penang tonight.

“But do you think that is enough? No! Goldman Sachs should pay the consequential losses, which is quite substantial and much more than US$588 million.

“You must pay back for all the losses of the US$6.5 billion bonds. How much it is, we can discuss,” he said.

Lim had mentioned the 1MDB scandal that has contributed to the country’s RM1 trillion debt, and cited latest news of Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon expressing distress that former employees Tim Leissner and Roger Ng had “blatantly broke the law” in their dealings with 1MDB.

“It is obviously very distressing to see two former Goldman Sachs employees went so blatantly around our policies and so blatantly broke the law.

“I feel horrible about the fact that people who worked at Goldman Sachs, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a partner or it’s an entry-level employee, would go around our policies and break the law,” Solomon reportedly said in a Reuters report today.

Leissner had pleaded guilty to corruption and money laundering charges. He was ordered to forfeit US$43.7 million.

Ng was arrested on November 1 and Malaysian police say he will be extradited to the US to face the charges.

The US also indicted fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low, but the Penang-born businessman accused of masterminding the scandal is still on the run. He was last seen in China but is said to have left the country. – November 7, 2018.