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Malaysia Charges Ex-Goldman Banker After Extradition Delay

Malaysia Delays Ex-Goldman Banker's Extradition Hearing on Snafu

(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.

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.

Malaysia Charges Ex-Goldman Banker After Extradition Delay

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.

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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Shamim Adam

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