TANAH RATA, Jan 17 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said US banking giant, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, should take responsibility if it had failed to take care of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) interests.
“We have put up a system. There is a system there to take care of our investment.
“If they fail, then they have to take the responsibility, because they were appointed and paid by 1MDB to take care of our interests,” he told reporters when met at the Masjid Kampung Raja here.
The group’s chief executive officer David Solomon yesterday apologised to Malaysians for former banker Tim Leissner’s role in the 1MDB scandal, but said the bank had conducted due diligence before every transaction.
US prosecutors last year charged two former Goldman bankers for the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB. Leissner, a former partner at Goldman Sachs in Asia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Solomon said that Leissner denied the involvement of any of Goldman’s intermediaries in transactions with 1MDB.
Roger Ng, the other charged former Goldman banker, was arrested in Malaysia at the request of US authorities and is expected to be extradited, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the prosecution.
The US Department of Justice has said that US$4.5 billion was misappropriated by high-level officials of the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2014.
As part of Goldman’s due diligence efforts, Solomon said the bank sought and received written assurances from 1MDB and International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) that no third-parties were involved in the first two bond sales.
