ANWAR Ibrahim has confirmed that Malaysia is seeking direct talks with Goldman Sachs to recover more than US$600 million (RM2.4 billion) the bank got from raising funds for 1Malaysia Development Bhd, reported Bloomberg.

“We’re quite optimistic that they’re responding,” the PKR president and prime minister-in-waiting was quoted as saying in an Istanbul interview on Tuesday.

“They have been adversely affected by all this, and we have options… negotiate with them, which is probably best for Malaysia,” he said, adding that a suit is the second option.

Goldman Sachs has lost US$11 billion in market value since Anwar earlier this month said Malaysia is seeking a “full refund” of what the bank earned for arranging bond sales for the scandal-plagued 1MDB.

The US has filed forfeiture suits involving assets worth US$1.7 billion that it said were bought using money stolen from the state investor, including luxury properties in California and New York, jewellery, artwork and the US$250 million super yacht Equanimity, which was purchased by wanted Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.

Bids for the vessel, which has been on the auction table for a month, will be unsealed this afternoon at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Anwar said Malaysia has held talks with the US Department of Justice on helping recoup the funds from Goldman Sachs.

He said discussions with the bank will start with Malaysia seeking at least US$600 million, and the country is expected to get a higher amount as negotiations continue.

He described as “exorbitant” the US$593 million that Goldman Sachs made for arranging three bond sales that raised US$6.5 billion for 1MDB.

“We hope this can be resolved pretty fast. How can you refuse to cooperate when you understand that billions have been squandered from the public purse?”

Global investigations into 1MDB have picked up pace since the new Pakatan Harapan government reopened a domestic probe, and Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and violate foreign bribery laws. – November 29, 2018.