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Even US$3 billion compensation not enough to settle 1MDB case with Goldman Sachs, Malaysia says
- Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul rules out a figure that is far higher than the US bank offered last year
- Malaysia has charged Goldman’s units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling US$6.5 billion that the bank helped raise for 1MDB
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Malaysia’s new government would not be willing to accept even compensation of US$3 billion from Goldman Sachs in a settlement over the 1MDB scandal, the finance minister said, ruling out a figure that is far higher than the bank offered last year.
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The Southeast Asian nation has charged Goldman Sachs and 17 current and former directors of its units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling US$6.5 billion that the US bank helped raise for sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who joined the three-month-old government from the corporate world, said he had held a conversation with Goldman Sachs representatives last month.
“We are continuing our pursuit to get some money from GS. And the legal case is still ongoing, so we will have to wait for the outcome of that,” the minister said on Saturday.
“If it’s US$2 billion, I can say, no. US$3 billion, no,” he added. “As long the amount is not something we think we can accept, then we continue with the legal case.”
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He declined to say what an acceptable sum would be.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
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