Roger Ng’s date with justice

Thursday 16 May 2024

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 21, 2022 - February 27, 2022

FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Abu Dhabi deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour were among the top government officials to be bribed to secure Goldman Sachs’ mandate to raise billions of dollars in bonds for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a US court heard last week at the start of the trial of Roger Ng Chong Hwa, the former head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs Malaysia.

Ng will most likely be the only Malaysian to be tried overseas over the matter. For the former Goldman Sachs banker, Valentine’s Day was a date with justice as his much-awaited trial on conspiring to launder money and violation of anti-bribery laws began at a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

The trial — which would detail the swindling of US$4 billion from 1MDB, described by Ng’s lawyers as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world” — saw the defence questioning whether Ng was a scapegoat for Goldman’s wider failures in allowing corrupt practices. The prosecution’s “star witness”, Tim Leissner, the former boss of Goldman’s Southeast Asia unit, admitted that the US$6.5 billion in bonds raised by the bank for the fund had reaped US$600 million in fees for Goldman and “would make him and Ng instant ‘heroes’”.

But it was his revelation of how top government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi could be bought that was particularly telling.

According to a Reuters report, Leissner claimed that Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) informed him and Ng in 2012 that some individuals in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, including Najib and Sheikh Mansour, could be bought, although the latter “wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less than US$100 million”.

International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), a state-owned Abu Dhabi company, acted as a guarantor for two tranches of the US$1.75 billion bonds issued by 1MDB’s unit, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd.

Set up to be the fall guy?

In his opening statement, federal prosecutor Brent Wible told the jury that Ng had received a US$35 million kickback from Leissner, who would testify against Ng later in the week. “The defendant saw an opportunity to make millions of dollars by cheating, and he took it.”

Defence attorney Marc Agnifilo countered that the prosecutors had used Ng as a scapegoat for “corporate-wide” failures in Goldman, which enabled fraud. “Roger is 100% innocent … We’re about to actually have a trial of an innocent man,” he insisted. Agnifilo also said Ng had raised red flags about the now fugitive financier Low, who is accused of masterminding the scheme.

Ng’s only role was to introduce Low to “far more involved” superiors, who have not been prosecuted, the Associated Press quoted Agnifilo as saying, adding that court filings show that as early as March 2010, Ng had advised caution in dealings with Low as he was not to be trusted.

According to a Bloomberg report, Agnifilo said Leissner was a “double bigamist” who uses people, and was now using Ng to do his jail time.

Jurors also heard how millions of dollars from the funds were used for parties and to hire featured guests and entertainers such as Hollywood superstars Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Megan Fox and Kim Kardashian, who were paid between US$50,000 and US$250,000 in celebrity fees.

A Bloomberg report cited invoices for a single Las Vegas party for Low that came up to US$3.6 million for food, beverages, “talent” and “top quality models”. The report added that the bar tab for the night included 65 bottles of Cristal champagne for about US$100,000 and a US$38,955 tip.

Alex Cohen, chief financial officer of Strategic Group, an entertainment and marketing company that arranged parties, testified that Low had accounted for “at least 25% of its profit in 2012 and that for one event, it was paid US$5,000 for the said model wrangling alone”.

Last Wednesday, star witness Leissner, 52, testified that he would lie to banks over Low’s involvement in deals surrounding the sovereign wealth fund. According to an Associated Press report, Leissner said Low had the “decision-making authority” in a bond transaction considered “the biggest in Goldman Sachs history”, even though he did not have an official position in the company.

According to the same report, Leissner said money laundering efforts included fake contracts with banks. He, together with Ng and Low, would use offshore accounts and shell companies to “disguise the flow of funds”. He added that he was informed by Low, in London around 2012, that both he and Ng would be receiving kickbacks — an inducement he was agreeable to even though he knew it was illegal.

Leissner said he was “particularly glad he was going to be paid some money” as he felt the firm had been undercompensating him. Reuters reported him as saying that he was overtaken by “greed and ambition”.

The report quoted Leissner as saying that at a meeting in London in 2012, Low listed individuals in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi who had to be bribed if a plan to raise US$1.75 billion for 1MDB was to succeed. The list included Najib and Sheikh Mansour.

Najib has maintained his innocence over any knowledge of misappropriation of 1MDB or 1MDB-related funds and claims that Low was the puppet master who deceived him.

Separately, on July 28, 2020, Najib was found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur High Court and sentenced to 12 years’ jail and a fine of RM210 million after he was found guilty of seven charges over the misappropriation of RM42 million belonging to 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd. The former premier’s defence team argued that Najib was led to believe the funds in his accounts had been donated by the Saudi royal family.

Najib made an appeal against the sentence, but the Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021, upheld the High Court’s decision. However, the appellate court granted him a stay of execution, which means he avoids jail time for now. Najib is currently appealing the decision at the Federal Court.

As for Ng, in May 2019, he pleaded not guilty to criminal charges linked to 1MDB. According to a Reuters report, he was released on a US$20 million bond, fitted with an ankle bracelet and made to stay in a court-approved undisclosed location.

Ng is charged with conspiring to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi through bond offerings that Goldman handled. Three charges brought against him are for alleged violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If found guilty, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Leissner was charged under similar terms but pleaded guilty in August 2018 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He was ordered to forfeit US$44 million (RM184.38 million).

The trial will resume on Tuesday (Feb 22) with Leissner’s further testimony.

Extradition to the US

The Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) received the US government’s extradition request on Oct 23, 2018. Roger Ng Chong Hwa was indicted by the Department of Justice and arrested by Malaysian authorities on Nov 1, 2018. According to then Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Amar Singh, the former banker would be extradited to the US to face charges by December that year.

Almost a week after his arrest, news emerged that Ng was “fighting the indictment”. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that he was filing an application “to review the US detention and extradition order”.

Ng dropped the fight months later, on Feb 15, when he waived his right to challenge the extradition proceeding and the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court green lit his extradition within three months from the day.

While in detention, in January 2019, his lawyer Datuk Tan Hock Chuan claimed that Ng was infected with leptospirosis and was suspected to have contracted dengue. His lawyers sought his release on bail but it was denied by Sessions Court judge M M Edwin Paramjothy, who found the evidence on Ng’s health condition to be insufficient, plus the fear that he would abscond.

On May 6, 2019, then attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas confirmed that Ng would be extradited and that as he faced criminal charges for “different crimes under two different systems in two countries”, consultations were held between the Malaysian and US governments, which led to the agreement that he would be tried in the US first.

Separately, Ng also faces four charges in Malaysia under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007. He was charged on Dec 19, 2018, with four counts of abetting Goldman Sachs over the sale of 1Malaysia Development Bhd bonds totalling US$6.5 billion (RM26.71 billion) by leaving out material facts and making false statements. He pleaded not guilty.

According to a Reuters report, Ng was extradited to New York on May 3.

Government’s failed forfeiture action

On Nov 8 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled in favour of Roger Ng Chong Hwa and his wife Lim Hwee Bin, against the Malaysian prosecution’s attempt to have them forfeit the RM1.88 million in their bank accounts.

Ng and his wife are respondents No 14 and No 15 respectively in the government’s larger suit against 18 individuals — which include Najib, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, their son Nor Ashman Razak Najib, Rosmah’s son Riza Shahriz Aziz and Jho Low’s mother Goh Gaik Ewe — to recover assets in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd amounting to RM31 million.

Some of the assets seized included 27 Nissan vehicles, 14 branded watches, 27 pairs of branded shoes, 263 branded handbags and cash in various denominations, including RM725,000.

Ng and Lim’s money was seized on March 11, 2019, under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ruled in favour of the couple, saying that the prosecution had failed to show how the money distributed in seven accounts was used for the commission of unlawful activities. He also said the prosecution had failed to show any evidence that the money was linked to illegal transactions, or the money was obtained from unlawful activities.

The prosecutors have applied for a stay and the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Thursday fixed June 3 to hear the prosecution’s stay application against returning the assets.

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