Goldman Sachs agrees to pay $3.9bn in 1MDB case
Bangkok, Jul 24 (efe-epa).- Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay the Malaysian government $3.9 billion over the 1MDB scandal, the country’s ministry of finance announced on Friday.
The multinational investment bank came to the settlement to compensate the country for losses from a money laundering and corruption scheme through the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Malaysian finance minister Zafrul Aziz said in a statement: “This settlement represents assets that rightfully belong to the Malaysian people.
“We are confident that we are securing more money from Goldman Sachs compared to previous attempts, which were far below expectations.”
“We are also glad to be able to resolve this outside the court system, which would have cost a lot of time, money and resources,” he added.
“With this settlement, we will have the return of the monies expedited, and not held up by lengthy and costly court battles and legal process.”
The agreement ends a legal dispute initiated by the Malaysian prosecutor’s office in August over the role of several Goldman Sachs executives in managing three 1MDB bond transfers with a total value of $6.5 billion between 2012 and 2013.
Goldman Sachs will make a cash payment of $2.5 billion and guarantee the recovery of assets worth at least $1.4 from the funds diverted in the three transactions.
The financial services company also agreed to fund an asset recovery specialist to recover other related assets currently lying outside Malaysia.
“This settlement represents a significant increase compared to the previous offer of USD1.75 billion made by Goldman Sachs to the previous administration in 2019,” the ministry of finance said in a statement.
