KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 ― Then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor topped a list of Malaysian names that were to be bribed to secure approval a fundraising deal for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner told a US court in the trial of his ex-colleague Roger Ng.
In a report today, Malaysian business weekly The Edge cited Leissner as explaining now-fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho’s chart of the scheme to bribe Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials for 1MDB matters.
Leissner was testifying as the US government’s star witness in Ng’s trial in the US over alleged money-laundering and alleged violation of an anti-bribery law.
According to The Edge, Leissner was replying to questions from defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo about Low’s chart. Leissner confirmed the name list had the Malaysians on the left, and that the topmost names were of Najib who was also the finance minister at that time, and Rosmah.
Agnifilo: And I think, if I remember right, you said that the Malaysians were listed on the left and the top entry was Najib Razak and Rosmah, right?
Leissner: It was ― Najib Razak was PM ― PM/Rosmah.
Leissner also reportedly confirmed that there were different 1MDB officials listed after Najib’s name as persons who were going to be getting bribes.
Agnifilo also asked if there were other Malaysian government officials on the list as persons who would be receiving bribes.
Leissner was quoted confirming this: “Yes, but it wasn’t the finance ministry, it was PM/Rosmah”.
Among other things, The Edge reported on Leissner’s testimony to US prosecutors on the reason he had in his emails to colleagues concealed Low’s name and involvement in 1MDB matters.
The newspaper reported that Leissner highlighted Low’s lack of an official role in the government-owned 1MDB.
“Because we were talking about a government institution here where an outsider, not part of the corporate structure or the governing structure, essentially, held all the power and all the control was with him. And that connection came from his relationship with the prime minister,” Leissner was cited as testifying.
Najib is currently on trial in Malaysia for the misappropriation of funds from 1MDB and other related cases linked to the sovereign investment company.
The Pekan MP had already been convicted and sentenced on multiple criminal and corruption charges related to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former unit of 1MDB, in 2020.
He is currently out on bail pending an appeal to the country’s highest court, and has been actively campaigning for the Barisan Nasional in the Johor state election, which will end today.
