Kerajaan boleh memperoleh lebih banyak pampasan dari Goldman Sachs atas peranannya dalam tuduhan penyelewengan dana 1MDB jika tidak tergopoh-gapah, kata bekas menteri kewangan Lim Guan Eng.
Lim bersetuju dengan bekas peguam negara Tommy Thomas yang semalam mengatakan Goldman Sachs akan berada di bawah tekanan jika kes-kes jenayah terhadap pegawai banknya dibawa ke mahkamah, seterusnya memberikan Malaysia kelebihan dalam tawar-menawar yang lebih kuat dalam rundingan.
"Bertentangan dengan apa yang didakwa Menteri Kewangan, PN (kerajaan Perikatan Nasional) sebenarnya mengambil tindakan populis dan tidak pragmatik apabila kerajaan dengan tergopoh-gapah menuntut bayaran awal yang jauh lebih rendah.
"Tindakan pragmatik adalah seperti yang dinyatakan oleh Tommy Thomas, iaitu, tunggulah sehingga perbicaraan jenayah ke atas Goldman Sachs bermula agar dapat bayaran wang tunai secara langsung yang lebih besar dan wajar daripada GS," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
Menteri Kewangan Tengku Zafrul Aziz semalam mempertahankan penyelesaian Putrajaya dengan Goldman Sach yang akan menyaksikan bank meminta wang tunai RM2.5 bilion dan jaminan RM1.4 bilion lagi mengenai pemulihan aset yang didakwa diperoleh menggunakan dana 1MDB yang dicuri.
Ditanya mengapa kerajaan PN tidak menuntut RM7.5 bilion seperti yang dituntut oleh kerajaan Pakatan Harapan (PH) sebelum ini, dia berkata dia memilih jalan penyelesaian yang pragmatik.
Zafrul juga mengecam pertuduhan jenayah yang diambil oleh kerajaan sebelumnya terhadap Goldman Sachs, dengan menyatakan bahawa tindakan saman sivil kerajaan PN lebih baik dan menghasilkan penyelesaian.
Thomas membantah hal ini, dengan menyatakan bahawa pertuduhan jenayah akan memberi tekanan yang lebih besar kepada Goldman Sachs dan juga mengkritik jaminan yang diberikan oleh bank, dengan menyorot bahawa pemulihan aset tersebut sudah dilakukan oleh Jabatan Kehakiman AS (DOJ).
Zafrul juga mempertahankan jaminan itu, dengan menyatakan bahawa Malaysia terdedah kepada risiko penilaian aset yang dipulihkan sementara jaminan Goldman Sachs akan memastikan jumlah minimum untuk aset yang dipulihkan.
Lim, dalam pernyataannya hari ini, mengatakan bahawa dia tidak mahu mengulas lebih lanjut mengenai perkara itu kerana dia ingin melihat bagaimana kerajaan akan respons terhadap kritikan Thomas.
Goldman Sachs bertanggungjawab mengatur tiga bon untuk 1MDB berjumlah AS$6.5 bilion, sejumlah besar dana itu kemudiannya disalahgunakan.
Bank itu mengatakan tidak tahu bahawa hasil yang disusunnya akan disalahgunakan dan telah meminta maaf kepada rakyat Malaysia atas skandal tersebut.
"Sangat jelas bahawa rakyat Malaysia ditipu oleh banyak individu, termasuk anggota tertinggi kerajaan sebelumnya," kata ketua pegawai eksekutif Goldman Sachs Group Inc. David Solomon sebelum ini. - mk
Goldman Sachs got away cheaply for USD2.5 billion
cash settlement, instead of USD 7.5 billion...
The international financial world sees Goldman as getting off cheaply by paying only one-third of the initial demand of US$7.5 billion made by the previous PH Malaysian government, in exchange for dropping criminal charges against the bank and 17 current and former Goldman directors.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin announcement that global banking firm Goldman Sachs has agreed to a US$3.9 billion (RM16.63 billion) settlement with the Malaysian government on defrauding of 1MDB, cannot hide the fact that US$1.4 billion is not paid by Goldman Sachs but will come from assets of 1MDB seized by authorities around the world.
Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was sentenced on 28 July 2020 by the High Court to 12 years in jail and RM210 million in fines, after finding him guilty of all seven charges on money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in the case involving RM42 million of funds deposited in his personal accounts from a former unit of troubled state fund 1MDB. Like Najib, if Goldman Sachs is found guilty, apart from imprisonment, they could be fined 5 times the amount defrauded.
The previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) Malaysian government had claimed USD7.5 billion to recover USD6.5 billion in the following three 10-year bonds arranged by Goldman Sachs guaranteed by the Malaysian government at an interest rate above the prevailing market rates of:
1. USD1.75 billion at 5.99% interest rate issued on 18 May 2012
2. USD1.75 billion at 5.75% interest rate issued on 17 Oct 2012
3. USD3.0 billion at 4.4% interest rate issued on 16 Mar 2013
The previous PH government had claimed USD 7.5 billion from Goldman Sachs, to include the additional USD1 billion to cover interest cost incurred for the bonds to date.
To forgo the initial USD 7.5 billion claim with only USD 3.9 billion ignores the huge debt burden of 1MDB.
The total 1MDB debt outstanding guaranteed by the Government is RM 31.7 billion ringgit. If the remaining interest payments till 2038 are included, the amount would increase to RM 41.5 billion.
This sum excludes the RM8.9 billion which have already been paid by the Government. This would bring the total cost of 1MDB to the country, including interest of the 1MDB debts, to RM 50.4 billion.
The deal to drop all criminal charges against Goldman Sachs for only 1/3 of the initial demand of USD 7.5 billion, follows the decision in May 2020 to discharge Najib’s step-son Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, from five money-laundering charges over US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) of funds siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), in exchange for Riza returning USD 108 million.
Former Attorney-General Tommy Thomas commented that, “Riza Aziz is not offering to pay any new monies from any source other than United States’ Department of Justice’s (DoJ) seized assets. The US$108 million would in any event be returned to Malaysia by DoJ.”
Public interest and accountability demands that the Perikatan Nasional government answer whether justice is served on Malaysians, by allowing Goldman Sachs to pay one third of the initial demand of USD 7.5 billion in exchange for absolving Goldman Sachs of all criminal punishment, for their role as accomplices and complicity in the RM50.4 billion 1MDB scandal with top Malaysian leaders and their cronies? - Lim Guan Eng
Goldman Sachs settlement...
Despite multiple requests from the media, I refrained from commenting on the merits of the settlement that the Government of Malaysia reached with Goldman Sachs which was announced on 24th July 2020. As the person leading the negotiations in 2019 on behalf of the previous government, I felt that it was not proper for me to publicly comment. After all, it is the prerogative of the present government to reach a deal on whatever terms it wishes.
Regrettably, I have to set the record straight, and correct the misleading statements made by the Finance Minister, Tengku Zafrul in an interview published in your 3rd August 2020 issue.
EXCERPT OF INTERVIEW QUESTION AND ANSWER
“Why didn’t you just make the same demand as the PH government by proceeding with the charges and force them to pay?
Did the previous demands result in a concluded settlement? The criminal charges initiated by the former Attorney General against Goldman Sachs are for making untrue statements under Section 179 (c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act, 2007 (“CMSA”). There is no imprisonment provision against a corporation. The penalty would have been only a fine. The fine would not have been sufficient to cover the 1MDB losses suffered.
On the other hand, the current Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun secured a settlement after intimating to Goldman Sachs of amended and new charges for fraud under Section 179 (a) and civil disgorgement claims under Section 199 CMSA. These entitled Malaysia to disgorge three times the fees (US$606 million x 3 = US$1.818 billion) earned by Goldman Sachs. These statutory claims are more robust and irrebuttable and resulted in the settlement. The USD$2.5 billion cash payment is 42% more than the offer received before.”
MY RESPONSE :
I charged the Goldman Sachs companies in December 2018. They were followed by charges against 17 of their Directors in August 2019. They would been tried jointly. We have a very strong case against all the accused, which we would have established at trial. We were confident that upon conviction, the trial court would in addition to sending the individual directors to jail, order the Goldman Sachs companies and the individuals to pay compensation.
The compensation that a criminal court would order would be on the same basis that a civil court would order under the CMSA, as occurred in 2 bond default cases in Malaysia, namely Pesaka and Aldwich.
Hence, there are 2 practical advantages of charging the companies and their directors in the criminal court. First, criminal charges ensure greater bargaining power for Malaysia. Secondly, the same court can order compensation or damages to reflect Malaysia’s losses arising from the 3 bonds that Goldman Sachs had designed and structured.
Any litigation lawyer would advise that the leverage that his client would have, whether as plaintiff in civil proceedings or as prosecutor in criminal proceedings, is to start a trial with the maximum negative publicity against the adverse party. This advantage was lost by the present administration because the settlement was rushed and premature. There are no objective reasons to have reached a settlement at this point in time.
What ought to have happened was to start the criminal trial against Goldman Sachs and its directors. From Malaysia’s perspective, any settlement should have only taken place in the middle of the trial or after the verdict is announced.
Separately, I would like to comment on 2 general matters raised by the disingenuous statements of the Finance Minister. First, that the settlement he reached was higher than the US$1.75 billion offered to the PH government. That is correct only because we rejected such a low offer, bearing in mind that Malaysia’s total exposure in principal and interest on the 3 bonds is USD9.6 billion. Secondly, the misleading statement about the US$1.4 billion as part of the Goldman Sachs settlement. Malaysia would have received this sum from the US Department of Justice, in any event, independent of this settlement with Goldman. This was because of the good relationship that Malaysia has established with the DOJ after the Pakatan Harapan government took office in May 2018. In other words, Malaysia’s right to receive the US$1.4 billion was not in any way dependent on the Goldman Sachs settlement. - Tan Sri Tommy Thomas
