1MDB case: Roger Ng agrees to be extradited to US
Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng has today agreed to be extradited to the US to face criminal charges against him relating to the 1MDB scandal.
Ng, who was in the dock at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur, consented after judge MM Edwin Paramjothy read the terms of the extradition...
Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng has today agreed to be extradited to the US to face criminal charges against him relating to the 1MDB scandal.
Ng, who was in the dock at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur, consented after judge MM Edwin Paramjothy read the terms of the extradition.
Among the terms read by Edwin included that since Ng consented to a waiver to challenge the extradition, he may not file a habeas corpus application and that he is agreeing to it voluntarily.
His Malaysian lawyer Tan Hock Chuan told the court that his client preferred to be extradited within 30 days.
However, DPP Faizal Aswad Masri said under the Extradition Act 1992, the home minister has three months to deport him.
Ng is facing three criminal charges in the US, for allegedly conspiring with fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho to launder money embezzled from 1MDB and conspiring to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to various Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.
The charges were laid on him by the US Department of Justice in a federal court in the New York eastern district.
Ng will now be held at the Sungai Buloh Prison, where he has been in detention since Nov 1, last year, until his extradition.
Agreement reached with DOJ
During the proceedings earlier today, Tan informed the court that Ng (photo) had agreed to a waiver of committal proceedings for extradition before this court.
"He intends to defend the case on its merits in a federal court for the eastern district, New York. My client has reached an agreement with the (US) Department of Justice for bail and terms thereof," he said, adding that his client requested to be extradited to the US within 30 days.
Besides his US charges, Ng is facing four charges in Malaysia, along with his former employer Goldman Sachs.
The Malaysian case has been fixed for mention on March 18.
Speaking to reporters outside the court, Ng's two lawyers - Tan, and American lawyer Marc Agnifilo - said their client would be held in prison up until deportation, and that it would be up to the Malaysian authorities to decide when to deport Ng.
Tan said that Ng is in a better condition than when he was produced last month, during which the lawyer had said that his client was suffering from fever and severe diarrhoea.
Agnifilo also said the US court has not fixed a date for the case yet.
They both declined to explain what would happen to Ng's Malaysian case, saying that the matter should be taken up with the Attorney-General's Chambers.
