Malaysia’s Anwar looks into suing Goldman for 1MDB scandal: ‘you steal from the people, I’ll have to get it back’
- Anwar said in an interview that he was ‘not discounting the possibility’ of a fresh lawsuit against the firm for its role in the scandal
- He earlier called the agreement his predecessors hammered out with Goldman Sachs to pay US$2.5 billion and return US$1.4 billion of assets ‘too light’
The government is weighing multiple options beyond just negotiations with the Wall Street firm, Anwar told CNBC’s Martin Soong. So far, the bank has “not been too forthcoming”, he said.
“So there are of course discussions on that score, there are other routes to be taken. And I’m not discounting the possibility of proceeding again the issue of lawsuits,” Anwar said in the interview, excerpts of which were aired on Monday.
Still, Anwar said the issue was complex and a lawsuit in the US would cost the government a fortune. “But you steal from the people, I will have to get it back,” he added.
State development fund 1MDB became the centre of a multibillion-dollar scandal that spawned investigations in Asia, the US and Europe. Goldman Sachs in 2020 admitted to its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history, reaching multiple international settlements in the billions of dollars to end probes into its fundraising for 1MDB.
