1MDB trial: Malaysia’s Jho Low stole US$1.42 billion from Goldman deals, FBI agent says

Eric Van Dorn told the jury that Malaysian ex-PM Najib Razak reaped US$756m of the US$6.5b raised in the bond offerings, while his stepson, Riza Aziz, pocketed US$238m

Van Dorn, who is a forensic account for the FBI, said he reviewed 59,000 bank records to determine where the money from the three 1MDB deals went

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Demonstrators hold portraits of Jho Low illustrated as a pirate during a protest in Kuala Lumpur. File photo: AP

Published: 11:00am, 15 Mar 2022

Fugitive financier Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scandal, stole US$1.42 billion from three bond transactions that Goldman Sachs Inc arranged for the Malaysian wealth fund, an FBI agent who traced the funds testified.

US Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Eric Van Dorn took the stand Monday at the trial of ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to his testimony about Low, he told the jury that former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak reaped US$756 million of the US$6.5 billion raised in the bond offerings, while his stepson, Riza Aziz, pocketed US$238 million.

Ng, the only Goldman banker to go on trial over the epic looting of sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd, was charged with conspiring with Low and his former boss Tim Leissner in the massive fraud.

Leissner, who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government, spent more than a week on the stand as the star prosecution witness against Ng. Low is not in custody and remains a fugitive.

Prosecutors have long alleged that Low paid bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to facilitate the deals, but Van Dorn’s testimony was the first time the US has detailed how those involved in the 1MDB deals were paid and how much they received.

Riza Aziz, stepson of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. File photo: AP

Van Dorn, who is a forensic account for the FBI, said he reviewed 59,000 bank records to determine where the money from the three 1MDB deals went. He said Khadem al-Qubaisi, a former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co, which guaranteed the 1MDB transactions, received US$472.8 million. Van Dorn also described another Abu Dhabi official who worked with the IPIC’s subsidiary and received US$76.6 million.