A former Goldman Sachs banker convicted in looting 1MDB fund back in Malaysia to help recover assets

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs executive convicted in the United States in the multibillion-dollar ransacking of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund has been brought back to the country to assist in asset recovery efforts, an official said Monday.

Roger Ng Chong Hwa is under police custody after arriving in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, according to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution.

Ng, a Malaysian, was convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in Brooklyn last year and sentenced in March to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Ng and his co-conspirators helped the Malaysian fund, known as 1MDB, to raise $6.5 billion through bond sales — only to participate in a scheme that siphoned off more than two-thirds of the money, some of which went to pay bribes and kickbacks.

Ng has denied charges that he conspired to launder money and violated two anti-bribery laws.

“We still have unfinished business,” Saifuddin told reporters. “The main objective of bringing him back is to see how he can assist in our efforts to recover assets owned by the people.”

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government, which came into power last November, has sought to review a settlement package with Goldman Sachs made by the previous administration in 2020 that it said was too light.

Under the deal, Goldman is to pay $2.5 billion while guaranteeing the return of $1.4 billion of 1MDB assets that have been seized in exchange of Malaysia dropping charges against the bank.

Saifuddin said police will continue their probe on Ng, who also faces graft charges in Malaysia. There is no deadline, he said, to return Ng to the United States, where his prison term has been put on hold to accommodate Malaysia.

Police have declined to say where Ng was being held, citing security reasons.

The 1MDB theft and cover-up attempts upended the country’s government at the time. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak suffered a stunning defeat in 2018 general elections and began a 12-year jail term last year after losing his final appeal in the first of several trials linked to the 1MDB saga.

The scandal also sent ripples through Hollywood, where some of the stolen money had gone to finance lavish parties, a superyacht, premium real estate and even the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, accused of being the architect of the plot, remains an international fugitive.

Ng’s lawyers said he was the fall guy for Low and a fellow Goldman Sachs banker also charged in the scheme. Tim Leissner, Ng’s former boss at Goldman Sachs, pleaded guilty in 2018 to bribing government officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. He was ordered to pay $43.7 million and became a key government witness during Ng’s two-month trial.

Ng, who oversaw investment banking in Malaysia for his firm, said Leissner implicated him to gain leniency during his own sentencing. Leissner has not yet been sentenced.