YOURSAY | ‘You can't convince us Goldman was not fully aware of the facts at the highest levels.’

Goldman Sachs CEO apologises to the people of Malaysia

Vijay47: Goldman Sachs’ chief executive officer David Solomon, this is a good start, though your apology seems straight out of chapter three of the CEO manual ‘Snow Jobs in a Hostile Climate’, where it states: “The bug-letter should do the trick especially in Malaysia, where they seem stuck at the crossroads.”

Your statement that “it’s very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals” couldn’t have said it better, except that the con-team included individuals from Goldman Sachs also.

Your Tim Leissner was not some backroom junior-clerk lone wolf; he was one of the top honchos close to your exalted position, and worse, he did not rob the till for his own benefit - the juicy pickings were packed in Ali Baba’s cave.

You suggest that you followed due diligence diligently and that should absolve you of any guilt. Did commission at rates beyond an Arabian night dream not ring alarm bells, nor the warnings and reservations by your in-house watchdogs put you on full alert?

Instead, you were laughing all the way to your own bank. Sorry may be the hardest thing to say, Dave, but show me the money.

Meerkat: Too little, too late. David Solomon's statement belies his pushing the blame to "individuals", implying that Goldman Sachs was not involved. Tell that to the marines.

You can't convince us that Goldman Sachs was not fully aware of the facts at the highest levels. And your statements are making Goldman Sachs out to be a reckless company, which accepts representations from those entities involved.

Is due diligence that simple? How did Goldman Sachs corroborate the representations? Didn't evidence point in another direction? How about cautions expressed by reviewers?

Solomon is either lying or clueless. He would do better to negotiate a settlement. Otherwise, let's see him in court.

TCM: Apology not accepted. Your due diligence efforts were insufficient, or you knowingly turned a blind eye to the shenanigans.

Money does not fall from the sky and if some deals are too good to be true and you accept it without further probing apart from assurances from your customers, then you are equally culpable.

Now let's talk about when you will return the ill-gotten gains.

The Reckoning: “‘It’s very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals, including the highest members of the prior government,’ Solomon said in a conference call discussing the bank’s fourth-quarter results.”

There you have it. Goldman Sachs must make a written witness deposition to the Malaysian court when Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) goes on trial.

Goldman Sachs wouldn't have acted for 1MDB just based on Jho Low and his Middle Eastern connections. Their due diligence would have included 'the top officials in the previous government', and their mandate for 1MDB was predicated on 'MO1's imprimatur'.

Citizen Peter: There is no need to apologise or give any excuses. It is like asking a robber to say sorry and he or she can keep the money.

To the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and authorities of all relevant countries - please bring them to justice.

When US energy company Enron was exposed, Arthur Andersen, an 89-year-old US audit company, paid the price and was erased from existence. Is anything less expected from the culprits of the 1MDB scandal?

Anonymous 770241447347646: An apology is the cheapest way to avoid repaying the people of Malaysia what is due to them.

After Goldman Sachs’ apology, where do Umno, PAS and their groups of supporters stand? Do they have a conscience? Or could they not be bothered about where their donations or funds came from as long as they are not the ones that have to pay the money back?

These are stolen funds, and not only is Goldman Sachs responsible for paying it back, but each receiver, if he or she has any conscience or fear of God, will return every penny.

Otherwise, the innocent public who have not benefitted from these funds will have to cough it out from their hard-earned incomes.

Puzzling: It is very hard to believe that Goldman Sachs has conducted very stringent due diligence.

Surely, Goldman would have no difficulty ascertaining beyond any doubt who the recipient of the proceeds of the bond issues was, even if the party had almost the same name.

Merely getting letters from the interested parties stating the recipient was part of the same company wasn't good enough, especially when it involved billions of dollars.

It was just a smokescreen to absolve Goldman Sachs of potential liability by following instructions from the interested parties to divert the proceeds to a particular account.

Goldman should take responsibility for failing to protect 1MDB's interests - Najib

Rupert16: The blame game is now in full swing. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak conveniently put the entire blame on the 1MDB scam on Goldman Sachs, which in turn passed the buck to Leissner.

The fact of the matter is that Goldman Sachs was paid a whopping sum to protect the interests of Najib, Jho Low and whoever was involved from 1MDB in the scam, and never our country's interest.

Kawak: A great statesperson takes responsibility for any failure of his administration. But a weak and gutless leader always blamed others for his own shortcoming.

Newday: At least MO1 did not state that Goldman Sachs bears “sole” responsibility.

The responsibility can be shared around many times. This includes, of course, fugitive businessperson Jho Low, 1MDB board members and CEO, staff that were in on the scam, various banks including Rothschild and Falcon, the investment banks like Goldman Sachs, the entire BN cabinet - those that did not raise any questions when the truth was coming out.

However, most of the responsibility rests firmly on your shoulders, MO1. You were such a financial wizard in your position as prime minister, finance minister and of course, as head of the 1MDB advisory board.

You silenced any form of critique, and threatened and sometimes did sue all and sundry in the process. Responsibility - yes, you did share it around. I am looking forward to the court determining your level of culpability.

Anonymous_89b4c441: Najib, you were paid by the rakyat to safeguard the interests of the rakyat but I don't hear you apologising.

So, don't you even dare try to pin the blame on others.

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