WHILE the government has been offered RM1 billion in compensation by investment bank Goldman Sachs over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today described the sum as “not reasonable”. 

In a Bloomberg interview at the Asean Business Summit – The Future of Malaysia and Asean in Bangkok, Thailand, he said the amount that was stolen amounted to about US$6.9 billion (RM28.6 billion), including fees for Goldman Sachs.

“Goldman offered RM1 billion (but) they made 10% from it,” he said. 

When asked by moderator Haslinda Amin what a reasonable sum would be, Dr Mahathir said that it would have to be at least 10% of the US$6.9 billion. 

“In this case (1MDB), from 90% from the money raised but, we (the country) will be facing an interest for 100 per cent,” he said. 

When asked if the government was mulling a civil suit on top of the criminal suit already filed, he said this would be up to the Attorney-General’s Chambers. 

“We would have to examine the case before taking any action. It is up to the A-G to take action,” he said. 

On December 17, the government of Malaysia filed criminal charges against three subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Inc over their handling of bonds totalling US$6.5 billion issued by 1MDB.

This was the first time a country has filed criminal charges against the US investment banking giant.

It was reported that Goldman Sachs made US$600 million in fees for handling the bonds related to 1MDB.

On recovering the lost money, the prime minister said it would be difficult to get all of it back as the money was stolen and the government does not know where it is. 

“If the money is invested in something, we can go to the company and ask for the money back, but the money is stolen and we don’t know where it is.

“They are not telling us (where the money is) and a number of people handled the money. Unless we can squeeze them, we would not know where it is,” he said. 

According to Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, Malaysia has thus far recovered US$322 million, equivalent to about RM1.3 billion worth of assets belonging to 1MDB. – Bernama, June 21, 2019.