Two units of Goldman Sachs, which face criminal charges for their alleged role in the 1MDB scandal, had their cases shifted to a higher court in Malaysia.
The High Court of Malaysia on Monday approved the transfer from the Magistrate’s Court for the charges against Goldman Sachs (Asia) and Goldman Sachs International (U.K.). Malaysia’s Attorney-General’s Chambers told prosecutors to transfer the case to a higher court in September without specifying the reasons, though such a move is widely linked to the seriousness of the case.
«I take the view that this matter be heard in the High Court. Cases are to be transferred to High Court,» said High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, who was quoted in «The Edge Markets». The financial group's units have been accused of misleading investors when arranging a $6.5-billion bond sales for troubled state fund 1MDB even though the parties involved allegedly knew the funds would be misused.
Third Goldman Unit
The petition to transfer the case against the bank's third unit – Goldman Sachs (Singapore), is being processed and will be reviewed at another hearing on December 26. The transfer to the High Court of the case against the Singapore unit was delayed as the summons received by the U.S. bank didn’t include all of the charges, Deputy Public Prosecutor Aaron Paul Chelliah said on Monday.
The U.S. bank is said to have been in talks with authorities in Malaysia and the U.S. to settle the 1MDB scandal. Negotiators for the Southeast Asian country have discussed figures of around $2 billion to $3 billion in talks with the Wall Street bank, finews.asia reported earlier. Meanwhile, the country’s top prosecutor Tommy Thomas has said Malaysia has a strong case against Goldman and isn’t dropping the charges.
