Malaysia says ex-Astro CEO returned US$10 million linked to 1MDB corruption case
- Money and assets were returned to the government last year after an investigation into Rohana Rozhan’s alleged involvement in embezzled funds
- Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner said he was in a relationship with Rozhan and bought her a US$10 million house in London
Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency said Rohana Rozhan, the former chief executive officer of Astro Malaysia Holdings, had returned US$10 million related to the troubled state fund 1MDB.
Money and assets of that amount were returned to the government last year after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission completed an investigation into Rozhan’s alleged involvement in funds embezzled from 1MDB, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The commission’s chief Azam Baki confirmed the recovery of the US$10 million in a statement on Friday.
Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner, a star witness in a trial linked to 1MDB, told a US court last year he was in a relationship with Rozhan that lasted a decade and bought her a US$10 million house in London in 2013 after she threatened to expose his involvement in the fund scandal.
The MACC summoned Rohana for questioning in February last year after Leissner’s testimony and froze her assets as it investigated the case. The probe found Rozhan had no knowledge of Leissner’s source of funds, the person said.
The probe has been completed and no further legal action was taken against her, the person said.
Goldman Sachs in 2020 admitted its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history, reaching multiple international settlements in the billions of dollars to end probes into its fundraising for 1MDB. Leissner pleaded guilty to foreign bribery and money-laundering charges, and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Roger Ng, another Goldman banker, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this month for his role in the 1MDB fraud and ordered to forfeit US$35.1 million as ill-gotten gains from the conspiracy to loot the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.