Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 28, 2022 - March 6, 2022

TIM Leissner dropped a number of bombshells last week in his testimony, the reverberations of which will continue to be felt for some time to come. From intimating that bribes were paid to Bank Negara Malaysia to ensure its approval for mega amounts to be transferred out, to sordid affairs with top executives, his revelations in a US court raised more questions than answers (see “Tawfiq and Bank Negara under the spotlight”).

Leissner, who is the prosecution’s star witness in the trial of Roger Ng Chong Hwa — the former head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs Malaysia — also provided insights into how former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his family allegedly lobbied the bank to promote their self-interest.

Formerly Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asia unit chief, Leissner cast an unflattering spotlight on how the bank had operated to exploit the apparent weaknesses in Malaysia in order to secure itself a very attractive mandate to raise a total of US$6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB. But he appeared to also come clean on his own role and machinations in the multibillion-dollar theft from 1MDB. In order to reap as much benefit as he could, he even stole millions of dollars that his partner in crime and alleged mastermind Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) had asked him to retain for safe-keeping.

Leissner did not hold back in his testimony at the New York Eastern District court in Brooklyn, New York.

Najib sought jobs for his children at Goldman in return for US$6.5 bil bond deals

He testified that in 2009, Najib met with then Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. This meeting was to discuss Malaysia’s 1MDB bond transactions.

According to a report by Bloomberg, it was at this meeting that Najib had asked for help to secure positions for his three children at the bank.

Ng and Leissner agreed to do so.

“Just met PM’s three children with Jho at his apartment,” Leissner, 52, read to the jurors, from an email Ng sent him. “We’ll work on getting them to join GS.”

Leissner replied to Ng: “Sounds good my friend. Get them in.”

According to the report, Leissner then testified that he had passed along the résumé of Najib’s daughter for a role in Goldman Sachs’ London office, and that the banker discussed it with a senior official at the bank.

Leissner said he was worried it might be perceived as “a bribe in kind” when, at the time, reports had emerged about other banks coming under scrutiny for giving jobs to prominent families in Asia. Ultimately, the Goldman Sachs official rejected Leissner’s request, he said.

Using his influence, Leissner then helped Najib’s daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib to land a position at private equity firm TPG Inc. He testified that he was “sensitive” that any rejection of Najib’s request could put the bank’s relationship with the former leader and Malaysia in jeopardy.

Taking to social media, Nooryana said that the introduction to TPG was made after she was told that getting a job with Goldman Sachs’ “demanding analyst program” could be a conflict of interest given that the investment bank does business with the Malaysian government. She said that she had merely been an intern at TPG and was at the “bottom of the food chain”.

Rosmah’s rage and the grand soirée

Leissner testified that at one point, Jho Low had been “chasing” him to make a donation to Badan Amal dan Kebajikan Tenaga Isteri-Isteri (Bakti), which he claimed was one of the conditions laid out by Jho Low for Goldman Sachs’ participation in the 1MDB bond issue.

As the then prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, was chair of Bakti — a grouping of the wives of members of parliament and cabinet ministers that mainly performs charity work.

She was furious over Leissner and Ng’s delay in getting the bank to make a donation to Bakti, as a generous donation would have boosted her influence.

“I’m talking about here that Low texted me about this contribution as well and that him chasing me would drive me crazy,” he told the court.

Leissner had testified that this was the second request Jho Low had made in 2009. Apart from seeking employment for Najib’s children, Leissner and Ng had to “support” Rosmah’s charity.

Acknowledging that “Rosmah’s influence on Najib was great” Leissner said that making the donation to Bakti would allow Goldman Sachs to “continue their work” and “improve (their) relationship with the first family”.

Leissner said that this was a peculiar and uncommon request in his dealings with governments or government-linked persons before.

In the end, Leissner said he made a personal contribution of US$300,000, which he described as a “substantial amount” after he decided that Rosmah’s request would not pass the bank’s tight guidelines on donations.

Another request Jho Low made of Goldman Sachs was to use its head Blankfein’s connections with the US Democratic Party to secure appearances by powerful New York democrats — Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, Chuck Schumer and ex-president Bill Clinton — at a “charity event” attended by Rosmah in 2010.

Jho Low was specifically intent on getting Clinton to attend the event, which was being held for Rosmah and had wanted Clinton “to be participating in one shape or form in this event for the First Lady of Malaysia”, testified Leissner, who explained that it was important to build connections for Rosmah and Najib as it would have proved to be beneficial for the bank in the long run.

He said the move would show the market that Goldman Sachs was very well connected.

At the event on April 16, 2010, at the five-star St Regis hotel in New York, Bernama reported that Rosmah received the “International Peace and Harmony Award” from the US Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU).

It is not known whether Clinton attended the event, but Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and Emmy Rossum, were in attendance. Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx emceed the event and, according to some reports, performed a duet with Rosmah.

Affairs with Malaysians

Leissner also testified to having extramarital relations with three women in Malaysia, two of whom were “politically connected” and the other a former chief executive of a media company.

Asked by prosecutor Drew Rolle about his extramarital affairs, Leissner spoke of one with Datuk Rohana Rozhan, the former CEO of media company Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd. The relationship lasted from 2003 to 2013, he told the jury.

Rolle asked Leissner whether he had ever given Rohana any money he received for his 1MDB work. Leissner said he had — and that he had bought her a US$10 million home in London in 2013 after she had threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB.

“Ms Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with 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, 2013, I was very fearful of that.”

Leissner also admitted to having affairs with the niece of a former chief minister of Sarawak and with the daughter of a Malaysian ambassador to the US.

Used wives to cover up kickbacks

Leissner testified to having received US$35 million from Jho Low after the first 1MDB bond was issued in 2012. Reuters reported that Leissner said that he had given half of it to Ng.

To allay suspicions, Leissner and Ng crafted a “cover story” to explain the payments so that the banks processing the funds would not grow suspicious.

The scheme was for Leissner to use the family business of his former wife Judy Chan to cover up these transactions. Ng would tell the banks that Ng’s wife had invested in Chan’s business in China and that the US$35 million were returns from the investment.

Leissner said the story was untrue, and that he did not know if Ng had relayed it to his bank.

However, Ng’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo denied the payment was a kickback, and insisted the duo’s wives had a legitimate business together.

Agnifilo has said he plans to call Ng’s wife, Hwee Bin Lim, to testify in her husband’s defence.

Ng is charged with conspiring to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi through the bond offerings which Goldman Sachs handled as appointed arranger by 1MDB. He is charged with violating US Foreign Corrupt Practices regulations and faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

Leissner was charged for similar offences but pleaded guilty. He was ordered to forfeit US$44 million. His former employer Goldman Sachs paid US$5 billion in fines and apologised for breaking the law.

 

Dipped into Jho Low’s stolen loot

By Hafiz Yatim

 

Tim Leissner last week confessed to helping himself to a substantial portion of the €145 million (US$162 million) that Low Taek Jho, his co-conspirator in the defrauding of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), had left in his care.

Leissner, testifying for the fourth day, told the court that the flamboyant Penang businessman and acknowledged architect of the massive fraud involving 1MDB, had asked him “to hold” €145 million in a shell company in Mauritius.

According to a Bloomberg report, Leissner said he saw an opportunity to further enrich himself as most of his money was invested in illiquid assets. He told the jury that he kept US$80 million for himself.

In addition, he borrowed another US$1.25 million from Roger Ng Chong Hwa, his subordinate at Goldman Sachs, who is on trial and whom he is testifying against.

Earlier, Leissner admitted to having helped rip off hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB. He testified that “a large portion” of the US$6.5 billion raised through three 1MDB bond deals he helped organise with Ng at Goldman Sachs was siphoned off to pay kickbacks and bribes to top officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

The American admitted that some US$60 million in kickbacks that he kept for himself was not enough and that he had to resort to taking money from Jho Low and Ng.

“I had the intention to pay him (Ng) back over time but I didn’t have a chance,” the 52-year-old Leissner, who had already pleaded guilty to bribery charges, said.

Leissener said he used some of the money he stole from Jho Low to buy a US$50 million boat, a stake in the Inter Milan soccer team and a Manhattan apartment at 68th Street and Madison Avenue.

Some were also used for a down payment on a Los Angeles home he’d share with his new wife, Kimora Lee Simmons, whom he met in 2013, Leissner said, adding that he also invested in a multi-platform media company called All Def Digital Inc and in Celsius Holdings Inc, an energy drink company.

 

Long-awaited trial to be paused

By Tarani Palani

 

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng’s long-awaited trial has hit another glitch, as the proceedings — only in their second week — will be paused after late disclosure of evidence pertaining to star witness, Tim Leissner. Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, hinted at the possibility of a mistrial due to what he called “government misconduct”.

In what the prosecution themselves termed an “inexcusable error”, they maintained that they had learnt late on Tuesday (Feb 22) that a US Department of Justice (DoJ) division had not shared with them or the defence some 15,500 documents related to Leissner. A Financial Times (FT) report said the documents were from email accounts and a laptop belonging to Leissner.

US District Judge Margo Brodie said the late disclosure was “troubling”. She allowed prosecutors to finish questioning Leissner and ordered that the trial be paused before cross-examination by the defence, to accord them time to study the documents. Leissner began his testimony last Wednesday (Feb 16).

Brodie said that although the defence would be given time to review the documents, the trial cannot be delayed indefinitely. “I will give you as much time as you need,” Reuters quoted her as saying.

Agnifilo was quoted in the FT report as saying that he might seek a mistrial if he thought he “could not continue after receiving the documents”, a New York Times report adding he could do it on the basis of “government misconduct”.

The New York Times also reported that this was the second time in a week that the prosecutors had failed to turn in evidence in a timely manner. It reported that at the start of the trial, “the government belatedly turned over 120,000 pages of emails and other documents” related to Leissner.

In November 2018, Ng was indicted by the DoJ and arrested by Malaysian authorities in Malaysia. He was held in prison and extradited and charged in the US in May 2019. His trial finally began on Feb 14 this year after pandemic-related delays.

 

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