Ex-banker Roger Ng denied bail pending extradition hearing
Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa, who had been charged by the United States Department of Justice on three counts of offences related to 1MDB, has today been denied bail pending his extradition hearing.
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Colin Lawrence Sequerah dismissed Ng's application for bail after he was served with a 60-day remand order on the grounds of public interests, as he is a potential flight risk...
The Kuala Lumpur High Court has denied bail for former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng pending his extradition hearing on the grounds that he is a potential flight risk.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Ng on three counts of offences related to 1MDB.
In dismissing Ng's bail application after he was served with a 60-day remand order on the grounds of public interests, Justice Colin Sequerah said the charges against the former banker were serious.
“There is no guarantee that if bail is granted he won't run away.
"I am of the considered view that it makes him likely to abscond. The larger interest of the public needs to be considered following the risk of the application. The application is dismissed," he added.
Justice Sequerah also dismissed Ng's contention that he was denied legal representation as the former banker said he could only meet his lawyers in court.
Ng had been arrested by the Malaysian police on Nov 1 following an application by the DOJ.
Following this, the Magistrate's Court imposed the 60-day remand order on him pending his extradition hearing, which Ng is contesting.
This is despite the ban on Ng from travelling abroad since December last year.
According to deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup, who led the prosecution team in opposing bail, no date has been fixed for the extradition hearing at the Sessions Court since the documents were just filed yesterday.
Ng's lawyer, Tan Hock Chuan informed Justice Sequerah that his instructions are to appeal today's decision and requested the grounds of the decision be ready.
It is understood that the extradition hearing could be scheduled next week.
Ng, who was shaved bald while in remand, was present in court and entered the dock when proceedings began. Several of his family members were also seen in the public gallery.
It was reported that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said that Ng would be extradited to the US if the country demands it.
According to the DOJ statement in November, the three-count criminal indictment at a federal court in New York pertains to Jho Low and Ng, conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB and conspiring to violate the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to various Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.
"As part of the three-count indictment, Ng is also charged with conspiring to violate the FCPA by circumventing the internal accounting controls of a major New York-headquartered financial institution which underwrote more than US$6 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB in three separate bond offerings in 2012 and 2013 while Ng was employed at the financial institution as a managing director," the statement by the DOJ stated.
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