THE head of Goldman Sachs today said he found it “very distressing” that former employees Tim Leissner and Roger Ng “blatantly broke the law” in their dealings with state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd, Reuters reported today.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon said: “It is obviously very distressing to see two former Goldman Sachs employees went so blatantly around our policies and so blatantly broke the law.” 

Besides the two former bankers, the US also indicted fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scandal.

“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 said.

Leissner had pleaded guilty to corruption and money-laundering charges.

Ng was arrested on November 1 and Malaysian police said he will be extradited to the US to face the charges. Meanwhile, Low is still on the run and was last seen in China.

Goldman underwrote US$6.5 billion (RM27 billion) in bonds for 1MDB and earned US$600 million in the deals, and the deals were closed with bribes to government officials while stolen money was laundered with the help of the bankers.

Goldman also said in its earnings report that an unnamed partner who was privy to the deals and aided Leissner in evading compliance officials had been put on leave. – November 7, 2018.