Malaysian authorities stated on Friday that they filed new charges against 17 Goldman Sachs executives in light of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MBD) scandal and in accordance to a law on capital markets and services from 2007. The charged individuals either worked in the past, or still work at one of Goldman's three subsidiaries: Goldman Sachs International, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Goldman Sachs Pte., the bank's Singapore branch.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, who filed the new charges, said the accused "occupied the highest executive positions in those three Goldman Sachs subsidiaries, and exercised or ought to have exercised decision-making authority over the transactions of those bodies corporate." He pointed out the charges were first brought last December as the country believes Goldman Sachs executives "perpetrated a scheme to defraud the government of Malaysia and purchasers of three bonds with a face value of US$6.5 billion which were underwritten and arranged by Goldman Sachs, and issued by subsidiaries of 1MDB, by way of the commission and abetment of false or misleading statements to dishonestly misappropriate billions from the bond proceeds."
Last December, Malaysia said Goldman Sachs refused to fully cooperate in its probe into the 1MBD fund. However, the bank insisted that its employees did not receive right information on bond sale proceeds from government officials at the time.
