All Goldman Sachs' 1MDB bond sale cases will now be heard at High Court

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 5): All Goldman Sachs cases in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) bond sales that were previously charged at the magistrates' court will now be heard at the High Court.

This follows High Court Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan today allowing the prosecution's application led by deputy public prosecutor Aaron Chelliah to transfer all the cases, including the one involving Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte Ltd which had reportedly hit a snag, to the High Court.

However, it remains to be seen which High Court judge would be hearing the case.

Goldman Sachs were represented by lawyers Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Datuk Prem Ramachandran and Chethan Jethwani.

All parties will now go to the magistrates court to inform the magistrate over the transfer of the case.

It was previously reported that Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Ptd Ltd's notice of summons was not able to be served resulting in the delay.

With this, Goldman Sachs International based in New York, and its entities in United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore have been served proper notices of summons.

In December 2018, Malaysia filed four charges against Goldman Sachs for allegedly leaving out material facts on the sale of bonds between a subsidiary of 1MDB and Aabar Investment PJS Ltd.

The offences were allegedly committed at 1MDB’s premises at Menara IMC in Jalan Sultan Ismail here between March 19, 2012, and Nov 11, 2013.

The company was charged under Section 179(c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, which carries a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years and a fine of not less than RM1 million, upon conviction.

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa had also claimed trial to four counts of abetting the company, in reference to the sale of the same bonds by omitting material facts and making false statements.

The US Department of Justice has estimated that about US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014.

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