THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has frozen assets of former Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad group chief executive officer (CEO) Rohana Rozhan over reports linking her to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the agency was in the process of gathering more information from its counterparts in the United States.

“We have frozen assets worth US$10 million (RM42 million) and we will gather more information from the US.

“We will call her again to record a statement, if we need to do so. For now the matter is under investigation, subject to the anti-money laundering act,” he said in a press conference today.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Insight reported that Rohana met the MACC for the second time and spent about three hours at the agency’s headquarters in Putrajaya.

Rohana was first called in for questioning on Thursday following allegations of blackmail by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner.

The MACC opened an investigation following the testimony of Leissner, who was Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia chief and is now the star witness against his then-subordinate, Roger Ng, who is facing charges of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks relating to 1MDB.

In the trial, ongoing in a US federal court in New York, Leissner said he was blackmailed by Rohana, who threatened to expose his dealings with 1MDB when they broke up after a 10-year relationship.

He told the jury that he had bought Rohana a US$10 million property in London in 2013 for her silence.

Goldman Sachs helped 1MDB raise US$6.5 billion in bonds and received US$600 million in fees for its service.

In 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to charges of violating US anti-corruption and money laundering laws, and has since turned State’s evidence in exchange for a reduced sentence. – March 1, 2022.