Malaysia 1MDB scandal: ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng’s US trial paused over new evidence disclosure
- The US revealed that it failed to turn over to the defence more than 15,500 documents related to Tim Leissner, the key witness in the bribery case against Ng
- Calling the failure ‘unforgivable’, Ng’s lawyers said that the documents support their argument that he played no role in the fraud
Instead, a misstep over crucial evidence about Leissner could end up tanking the case, after the US disclosed that it failed to turn over to the defence more than 15,500 documents related to him.
On Wednesday the judge said she would pause the trial to give the defence time to review the newly disclosed evidence, which the government says it discovered on Tuesday night.
In a hearing outside the jury’s presence, Ng’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the court he may ask for a mistrial.
“In the middle of the night we got a letter from the government describing by its own admission an ‘inexcusable’ discovery disclosure,” an angry Agnifilo told US District Judge Margo Brodie in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
He added that he had complained for at least two and a half years about the government’s “slow-walking” evidence he needs to defend his client.