Goldman Representatives Visit Kuala Lumpur for 1MDB Talks
Goldman Representatives Visit Kuala Lumpur for 1MDB Talks
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Senior representatives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are in Malaysia to pursue negotiations with the government, as it seeks to recover assets of the state fund 1MDB, the nation’s Finance Minister said.
“We hope these discussions will prove to be fruitful,” Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said in a statement on Monday. “It will enable us to move closer towards achieving the desired results on the recovery of 1MDB assets.”
The talks are the latest phase in Goldman Sachs’s efforts to draw a line under the 1MDB affair, which dates back to the $6.5 billion of bond sales it arranged for the troubled Malaysian state fund in 2012 and 2013.
Malaysia has accused the bank of misleading investors when it arranged the bond sales, while allegedly knowing that the funds would be misappropriated. Goldman Sachs has denied wrongdoing, saying that former Malaysian officials lied to the bank about how proceeds from the bond sale would be used.
Zafrul and Malaysian Attorney General Idrus Harun have actively engaged with officials from Goldman Sachs and the U.S. Department of Justice to remove key hurdles in the asset recovery negotiations, according to Singapore’s Straits Times, which reported Monday on the talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
The bank is in the final stages of settlement talks with the Justice Department, after tussling with the government on one critical issue -- a potential guilty plea for the first time in Goldman’s history, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.
Once the Justice Department renders its decision about a guilty plea, a resolution could follow quickly, including a penalty as high as $2 billion.
The effective recovery of 1MDB assets remains a key priority for the Malaysian government, Zafrul said in the statement. The government has “proactively” taken action across multiple countries and organizations, he said.
“We are taking every action and step to ensure a recovery value that is fair and just for the Malaysian people,” Zafrul said.
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