Rohana Rozhan, Tim Leissner, Rosmah Mansor: all you need to know about the people mentioned in Roger Ng’s 1MDB trial

Jho Low and Najib Razak tend to be the most talked about figures when it comes to 1MDB, but a whole cast of supporting characters emerged during Ng’s trial

New testimonies and evidence shine a light on those who sought to benefit from the global corruption scandal, from Malaysia to the Middle East and beyond

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Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, right, exits a federal court in New York on April 8 after being found guilty of helping to embezzle money from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. Photo: AP

Hadi Azmiin Kuala Lumpur

Published: 9:00am, 17 Apr 2022

The just-concluded US trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng in connection with Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal has turned up new, at times sordid, details about what has been described as the world’s biggest corruption case.

Much of this new information emerged in Ng’s testimony during the seven-week trial in a Brooklyn court. A jury last week convicted the 49-year-old on all three counts: namely, money laundering, breaching anti-bribery laws and not adhering to accounting controls.

Also proving to be a rich source of trivia was Tim Leissner, the former head of Goldman’s Southeast Asia unit turned government witness against Ng. He has his own legal woes related to the scandal, but in 2018 pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in July.

Protesters hold portraits of Jho Low made to look like a pirate at a rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2018. Photo: AP

Conversations about the 1MDB financial scandal often revolve around Jho Low – the fugitive financier accused of masterminding the scheme – and the man Malaysian prosecutors have described as Low’s “mirror image”: ex-prime minister Najib Razak.

Less was known about the bit-part characters in the long running saga – until Ng’s trial brought new testimonies and evidence to light. Here, This Week in Asia gives you the lowdown on all the latest details that have emerged about this cast of supporting characters.

Roger Ng

The central figure in this round of 1MDB legal drama, Ng “played a critical role in a massive bribery and money laundering scheme to steal billions of dollars from the government of Malaysia and use it to pay bribes to powerful government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi”, federal prosecutor Alixandra Smith said in her closing argument.