PUTRAJAYA (Feb 25): Former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Rohana Rozhan has confirmed that she had seen the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
In a brief statement issued by her lawyers at Messrs Valen, Oh & Partners on Friday (Feb 25), Rohana said she will give full cooperation to the anti-graft agency in its investigations.
"I refer to allegations appearing in the media about me. I've attended the offices of the MACC and given them my full cooperation in their investigations," she added.
She was at the MACC headquarters here from 9am to 6pm on Thursday, a source from the anti-graft body told theedgemarkets.com.
On Tuesday, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Tim Leissner testified in Roger Ng Chong Hwa's trial that a media CEO with whom the American had an affair had allegedly blackmailed him into buying her a US$10 million home, according to a Bloomberg report.
Leissner described the person to be Rohana, and that he bought the property in London in 2013 after she threatened to expose his involvement with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
“Ms. Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife Kimora,” Leissner testified, referring to his wife Kimora Lee Simmons.
“If I didn’t buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time in 2013, I was very fearful of that.”
The star witness in Ng's trial further said that he had a relationship with Rohana that lasted for 10 years.
Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to a count of conspiracy to violate US anti-bribery laws and to conspiring to launder money.
Ng, a Malaysian, is the only former Goldman Sachs banker to be charged in relation to 1MDB. He is charged with one count of conspiring to violate a provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that makes it illegal to bribe foreign officials.
He is also charged with conspiring to violate a provision of the FCPA that makes it illegal to circumvent accounting controls that companies implement to prevent bribery.
Ng also faces a third charge of conspiring to commit money laundering by engaging in monetary transactions in the US using funds derived from FCPA violations.
Prosecutors alleged that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, along with Ng and Leissener, had conspired to launder funds embezzled from 1MDB through the US financial system and used that money to pay bribes.
Read also:
Leissner says lover blackmailed him into buying US$10 million home
MACC: US$10m assets and cash in relation to Leissner-Rohana dealings frozen
Leissner clarifies he gave US$10m of 1MDB money to Rohana for London home, not buy it himself
MACC: Probe into US$10m Rohana Rozhan allegedly received from Tim Leissner still ongoing