Malaysia said on 17 December that the country has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two of the US bank's former employees in connection with a corruption and money laundering probe at state fund 1MDB.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise funds through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which is the subject of investigations in several countries.

Malaysia's Attorney General Tommy Thomas said criminal charges under the country's securities laws were filed on December 17 against Goldman Sachs, its former bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo and financier Low Taek Jho in connection with the bond offerings.

According to Attorney General Thomas, 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 USD from the proceeds of three bonds issued by the subsidiaries of 1MDB, which were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs.

Earlier on 13 November, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Goldman Sachs of “cheating" Malaysia in dealings with the state fund 1MDB.

After assuming power, PM Mahathir declared to give priority to addressing corruption and taking back losses of the 1MDB fund that was established by former PM Najib Razak in 2009.

Najib has been accused of involving in the loss of billions of USD in the bank’s transactions with foreign partners. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Malaysian Government set up a special task force to investigate the fund with the support from the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, and other related countries.

(Source: VNA)