KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun should hurry and get Roger Ng back to his home country to stand trial for the theft of 1MDB now that the US has convicted the former Goldman Sachs banker of his role in the looting of the Malaysian sovereign investment company, DAP’s Lim Lip Eng said today.

The Opposition lawmaker said the AG need not wait for the 49-year-old Malaysian to exhaust his legal options in the US before resuming court proceedings in Malaysia that have been put on hold since 2019 when he was extradited to face trial in New York.

"When an order for extradition to the US arrived, Ng chose to be transferred to the US for trial and his Malaysian trial was put on hold. The trial of Roger Ng cannot and should not be postponed any further. 

"Idrus should immediately seek Ng’s repatriation, and orders should also be given to charge Ng’s fellow Malaysians who were implicated during his court trial in the US.

"As a matter of fact, the AG’s office should already have initiated and completed the investigations on these individuals,” Lim said in a statement.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng is pictured at Parliament, Kuala Lumpur August 6, 2020. — Picture by Hari Anggara

The Kepong MP who is also a lawyer wondered if Idrus was perhaps suggesting that Malaysian law is subservient to US law by letting Ng exhaust his legal options there first.

In Malaysia, Ng is facing four counts of violating the Capital Market Services Act, namely abetting Goldman Sachs in the sale of notes and bonds belonging to 1MDB subsidiaries by omitting material information and publishing untrue statements.

He is charged under Section 370(c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act, which carries a punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of at least RM1 million, upon conviction.

Although Ng is charged with abetment, a charge against the US investment bank was dropped in September 2020 after Goldman Sachs agreed to a US$2.5 billion (RM10.6 billion) financial settlement with Malaysia.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya February 22, 2022. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

In a separate statement, former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also called for 1MDB cases in Malaysia to be dealt with promptly, following Ng’s conviction in the United States. 

Muhyiddin said Ng’s case had uncovered evidence of embezzlement involving key Malaysian government officials and leaders at the time.

"I have opposed their criminal acts from the beginning and will continue to fight to prevent this kleptocratic group from returning to power.

"I believe the courts in our country will also give all Malaysians justice in the 1MDB cases which are still in proceedings. 

"The trials must be expedited so that justice can be served immediately,” Muhyiddin said in a statement on his Facebook page yesterday.

Muhyiddin also quoted Breon Peace, an attorney in the US eastern district of New York, who called the verdict a victory for not only the rule of law but also for the people of Malaysia for whom the fund was supposed to help raise money for projects in their country’s economy.

US prosecutors say Ng who was formerly Goldman’s Malaysian head of investment banking, helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from 1MDB and launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for the US private bank.

1MDB was set up by the Malaysian government to get investment for development projects.

The US jury found Ng guilty of two counts of conspiracy to violate its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Another Malaysian Low Taek Jho but better known as Jho Low was also charged alongside Ng in the US in 2018, but has so far escaped the law.