KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner had been forewarned that “bad karma” would be coming his way from his own doing ahead of the 1MDB financial scandal that shook the world, a US jury in the trial of his former Malaysian subordinate Roger Ng heard yesterday.
Bloomberg reported that Ng’s wife, Lim Hwee Bin, who was called to the witness stand this week told the US court in New York that she and her husband consult a fengshui master known as “Master Pang” annually and had arranged readings for Leissner between 2015 and 2016.
In one of the readings, she said “Master Pang” had cautioned Leissner.
“Don't cause bad karma.
“Whatever bad is coming is coming out of your mouth,” Lim, the defence witness, was quoted saying.
Ng, 49, was Goldman’s former chief for Malaysia. He is charged with conspiring with Leissner to embezzle, bribe, and launder money from the Malaysian sovereign investment fund in violation of US anti-corruption laws.
Leissner, who had been Ng’s supervisor at Goldman, had pled guilty to receiving kickbacks from flamboyant businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, for helping embezzle funds Goldman raised for 1MDB through three bond sales but was never charged.
He is now cooperating with the US government as its key witness against Ng.
According to the Bloomberg news report, Leissner previously testified in the US court that the fengshui master told him a “female” would “be helpful to him in the future”.
But Lim testified that the “female” was actually Leissner’s daughter.
Leissner had previously told the US court that he, Ng and Lim had agreed to create a “cover story” for the authorities for a US$35 million (RM160 million) kickback for Ng.
