KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Monday filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two of the US bank’s former employees in connection with an investigation into suspected corruption and money laundering at state fund 1MDB.
Malaysia will seek jail terms as well as billions in fines from Goldman Sachs and four other individuals who allegedly diverted about $2.7 billion from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Attorney General Tommy Thomas said in a statement.
This is the first time Goldman Sachs has faced criminal charges in the 1MDB scandal.
The bank has consistently denied wrongdoing.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman said in a statement that the charges were “misdirected” and the bank would vigorously defend against them. The bank continued to cooperate with all authorities in their investigations, he said.
Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to raise $6.5 billion through three bond offerings for 1MDB, which is the subject of investigations in at least six countries. The US Department of Justice has said about
$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB, including some money that Goldman Sachs helped raise, by high-level officials of the fund and their associates from 2009 through 2014.
Thomas said criminal charges under securities laws were filed on Monday against Goldman Sachs, its former bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo and financier Jho Low in connection with the bond offerings.
“The charges arise from the commission and abetment of false or misleading statements by all the accused in order to dishonestly misappropriate $2.7 billion from the proceeds of three bonds issued by the subsidiaries of 1MDB, which were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs,” Thomas said in a statement.
He said the offering circulars filed with the regulators contained statements that were false, misleading or from which there were material omissions.
“Having held themselves out as the pre-eminent global adviser/arranger for bonds, the highest standards are expected of Goldman Sachs. They have fallen short of any standard,” Thomas said.
He said prosecutors would seek fines against the accused “well in excess” of the allegedly misappropriated $2.7 billion bond proceeds plus $600 million in fees received by Goldman Sachs.
Malaysia would also seek jail terms of up to 10 years for each of the individuals accused, he said.
Thomas accused the four individuals charged of conspiring to “bribe Malaysian public officials in order to procure the selection, involvement and participation of Goldman Sachs in the bond issuances.”
US prosecutors filed criminal charges against the former Goldman Sachs bankers, Leissner and Ng, last month.
Leissner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ng, detained in Malaysia, is facing extradition to the United States.
Lawyers for Leissner and Ng could not be reached immediately.
Loo, against whom Malaysia brought other 1MDB-related charges this month, has not commented on the 1MDB case and her whereabouts are not known.
Low, who authorities have described as a central figure in the suspected fraud, has said he is innocent. His whereabouts are not known.
A spokesman for Low did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Malaysia files criminal charges against Goldman, ex-bankers in 1MDB probe
Malaysia files criminal charges against Goldman, ex-bankers in 1MDB probe
- Malaysia will seek jail terms as well as billions in fines from Goldman Sachs and four other individuals who allegedly diverted about $2.7 billion from 1Malaysia Development Bhd
- A Goldman Sachs spokesman said in a statement that the charges were misdirected and the bank would vigorously defend against them
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
