IT was Goldman Sachs’ responsibility to take care of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) interest as it paid them to do so, said Najib Razak.

“So, if they failed, then they have to take repsonsibility because they were appointed and paid by 1MDB to take care of its interests,” he said during a visit to Masjid Kampung Raja in Cameron Highlands today.

His remarks follow Goldman Sachs chief executive officer David Solomon’s apology to Malaysians earlier today over the bank’s role in the 1MDB scandal.

“It’s very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals, including the highest members of the prior government,” Solomon had said at a conference call with analysts after reporting the investment bank’s fourth-quarter earnings yesterday.

Najib faces 39 charges in court involving 1MDB, its subsidiary SRC International and the tampering of an auditor-general’s report on the troubled state investor, as well as for criminal breach of trust involving the International Petroleum Investment Company.

In November, Tim Leissner, who once headed Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asian unit, pleaded guilty to violating US anti-bribery and money-laundering laws, and agreed to pay US$43.7 million (RM184 million) in restitution of ill-gotten gains.

Another former Goldman Sachs banker, Roger Ng, or Ng Chong Hwa, is languishing in a Malaysian jail while the US Department of Justice seeks his extradition.

Solomon apologised for Leissner’s role in the debacle but reiterated that Goldman Sachs had been misled by Leissner and senior officials in the Malaysian government about the role of a key intermediary in the scandal, Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. – January 17, 2019.