1MDB scandal: I warned Goldman Sachs about Jho Low, ex-banker Roger Ng claims in US filing

Roger Ng, who is facing trail in the US on bribery and money-laundering charges, says he told his bosses Low was ‘not to be trusted’

He also argues that Tim Leissner, an ex-Goldman banker who has agreed to plead guilty and testify against him, is really the central figure in the scheme

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Protesters hold portraits of Jho Low illustrated as a pirate during a rally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2018. Photo: AP

Published: 9:41am, 24 Nov 2020Updated: 9:41am, 24 Nov 2020

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng asked for the foreign bribery case against him to be dismissed, saying he “warned” the bank not to do business with Malaysian financier Jho Low.

Ng, who says he told Goldman that Low was “not to be trusted”, is facing trial next year on charges of bribery and money-laundering conspiracy. He is accused of helping Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak and others embezzle at least US$2.7 billion from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, known as 1MDB. Low is accused of masterminding the scheme.

In a 126-page filing, Ng says the US has no business prosecuting him because the alleged crimes were committed in Malaysia. He also argues that his former boss, Tim Leissner, an ex-Goldman banker who has agreed to plead guilty and testify against him, is really the central figure in the scheme because he ultimately persuaded the bank to do business with Low.

As early as March 2010, Ng “specifically warned” his superiors at Goldman to “use caution in dealing with Low”, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in the filing. “Ng’s warnings were shared with the highest levels of the compliance and legal divisions of the company. The company did not listen to him.”

Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng leaves a court in New York in May last year. Photo: Reuters

Goldman spokeswoman Maeve DuVally, Leissner lawyer Henry Mazurek and John Marzulli, a spokesman for Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme in Brooklyn, New York, whose office is prosecuting the case, declined to comment on the filing. Low, who has denied wrongdoing, is considered a fugitive and has been charged in absentia in Malaysia and the US with money laundering and other offences.

Goldman has agreed to pay billions of dollars in penalties to the Justice Department and other US authorities for its role in the 1MDB scandal, the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history.