AN Abu Dhabi state investor, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), will drop a suit against Goldman Sachs over a bribery case linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd, Reuters reports today.

IPIC alleges that the American investment bank conspired with unidentified Malaysians to bribe its former managing director Khadem Abdulla al-Qubaisi and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy al-Husseiny, former CEO of Aabar, an IPIC unit, to invest in 1MDB, a brainchild of former prime minister Najib Razak.

State fund Mubadala Investment Co, which controls IPIC, suspended business dealings with Goldman Sachs after the suit.

“Following collaborative discussions, the International Petroleum Investment Company is dismissing its suit against Goldman Sachs, related to issues regarding 1MDB,” it said in an emailed statement yesterday.

Two days ago, reports said Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion) in a deal with the US Justice Department to avoid criminal prosecution over its role in the 1MDB scandal.

The settlement will end years of US investigations into the bank’s alleged participation in the defrauding of the Malaysian investment fund. 

The DoJ said more than US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015 by the fund’s high-level officials and their associates.

Tens of millions of dollars were used in 2012 by Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, an aspiring film producer, to fund the Hollywood film, The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Hundreds of millions were also used, mainly by Riza and Low, to purchase high-end real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London.

The investment bank has been investigated by regulators in at least 14 countries, including the US, Malaysia and Singapore, over its role in the scandal. – October 22, 2020.