Malaysia 1MDB scandal: Najib on the defensive after US trial testimony, faces fresh attack from Mahathir

Star witness Tim Leissner claims the former PM met Goldman Sachs’ ex-global chief Lloyd Blankfein at Jho Low’s flat and asked him to give jobs to his children

But Najib says the bank tried to bribe him – and puts spotlight on another claim that ex-central banker Zeti Akhtar Aziz greenlit a transfer of US$1 billion 1MDB funds

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An artist’s impression of the moment star witness Timothy Leissner points out former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng in the ongoing US trial over the 1MDB scandal. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:08pm, 23 Feb 2022Updated: 9:44am, 24 Feb 2022

Revelations in the ongoing trial in the United States of an alleged key player in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal are continuing to cause shock waves, with the ex-leader Najib Razak on Wednesday scrambling to counter testimony by a key witness.

Since the start of the trial in Brooklyn against ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, Malaysians have been keeping close tabs on daily international media reports for fresh details about the multibillion-dollar plunder – which felled Najib as prime minister in 2018 and continues to be a key issue of debate in national politics.

On Tuesday, the US government’s star witness Tim Leissner – also formerly from Goldman – told jurors that the former Goldman global chief, Lloyd Blankfein, had met Najib during the Thanksgiving holidays in 2009, at which point the then prime minister petitioned the bankers for jobs for three of his children.

The meeting took place in the apartment of Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian businessman widely viewed as the chief architect of the theft.

“Just met PM’s three children with Jho at his apartment,” Leissner read to the jurors from an email Ng sent him, Bloomberg reported. “We’ll work on getting them to join GS.”

Leissner replied to Ng: “Sounds good my friend. Get them in.”