US Investment Bank Goldman Sachs is currently in talks with Malaysian authorities working out the possibility of having criminal charges against three of subsidiaries in relation to three bond issues by 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, that helped a Malaysian businessman loot state-backed fund, dropped.
Malaysian Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, who leads Malaysia's negotiating team, confirmed that two rounds of talks have happened already but the parties have not yet arrived at an agreement on the compensation.
Malaysia is the first country to prosecute Goldman Sachs as a company for its role as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised US$6.5 billion for 1MDB.
In December, Malaysia filed the case against Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Goldman Sachs International (UK) and Goldman Sachs (Singapore).
Malaysia is seeking $2.7 billion in fines alleging Goldman Sachs of misleading investors in the issuance of three 1MDB bonds.
Malaysia also wants the return of $600 million that the investment bank got for fees.
Just this August, Malaysian prosecutors filed criminal charges against 17 current and former Goldman executives.
Malaysia accuses them of misleading investors by making false statements and withholding key facts in relation to the 1MDB-related bond issues worth $6.5 billion.
The $239 million in compensation offered by Goldman in June, according to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is "little."
Malaysia's finance minister said in January that dropping criminal charges would only happen if Goldman would pay US$7.5 billion in reparations.
Though the government's case is scheduled to come before the Magistrate Court, the lower court in Malaysia, on Oct. 22 and will get transferred later to the High Court, Thomas said the settlement negotiations can happen until the opening of the criminal trial.
Goldman is facing charges of misconduct and material omissions because of the lack of any reference to Jho Low, the alleged mastermind behind the questionable transactions by Malaysian state-backed fund 1MDB in the prospectuses.
Thomas said "it is unbelievable" that one can talk about 1MDB in the prospectuses without mentioning Jho Low.
The now-defunct 1MDB is the brainchild of former Prime Minister Najib Razak and was pitched as a sovereign wealth fund.
The wealth fund had been with controversy due to questionable transactions and investments not only in Malaysia but also abroad racking up $13 billion in debt.
Jho Low is wanted by authorities in several countries, including Malaysia, the U.S., and Singapore.
It is estimated, according to the government, that Jho Low stole more than $10 billion from 1MDB.
It is impossible to recover the full $10 billion because most of it had been spent already.
