Malaysia Charges Ex-Goldman Banker After Extradition Delay

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysian prosecutors charged a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker on Wednesday, after an oversight earlier in the day delayed his extradition process to the U.S.

Roger Ng pleaded not guilty to four counts of abetment of false statements to a financial regulator. Ng didn’t show up for his extradition hearing on Wednesday morning as prosecutors weren’t aware that his attendance was necessary, Deputy Public Prosecutor Shukor Abu Bakar said, adding a new date has been set for Jan. 4.

Ng could be stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war as prosecutors in the U.S. and Malaysia seek to indict him for his involvement in 1MDB transactions arranged by Goldman. It’s unclear how they would cooperate on charges relating to Ng and others in a scandal that allegedly saw billions of dollars siphoned from the Malaysian state fund.

Read about how the 1MDB scandal reaches around the world.

Last month, Ng was said to be seeking a review of the order to extradite him to the U.S., where he would face money laundering and bribery charges linked to troubled state fund 1MDB. Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman’s units and its former bankers, including Ng, on Monday. Those allegations involve $6.5 billion of bond sales that the bank arranged for 1MDB.

Goldman will “vigorously contest” the charges, which it said came without a chance for the firm to provide its view. “Certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to Goldman Sachs, outside counsel and others about the use of proceeds from these transactions,” the bank said in an emailed statement on Monday.

Ng was deputy to Tim Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money allegedly siphoned from 1MDB and paying bribes to Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials. Singapore on Wednesday extended a prohibition on Leissner from working in its securities industry to a lifetime ban, from 10 years.

A QuickTake explainer on the Malaysian legal system awaiting Goldman

In November, Ng and his family had agreed to surrender about S$40 million ($29 million) to authorities in Singapore, who would then repatriate the funds to Malaysia, according to people familiar with the matter.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.