Be transparent on Goldman Sachs settlement - Wong Chen to Zafrul
Subang MP Wong Chen has called on the Perikatan Nasional administration to give the public a full account of the Goldman Sachs 1MDB settlement which it announced last Friday.
"Finance Minister (Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz) has a duty to all Malaysians to disclose the full terms of the settlement agreement with Goldman Sachs.
Subang MP Wong Chen has called on the Perikatan Nasional administration to give the public a full account of the Goldman Sachs 1MDB settlement which it announced last Friday.
"Finance Minister (Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz) has a duty to all Malaysians to disclose the full terms of the settlement agreement with Goldman Sachs.
"The 1MDB scandal will cost Malaysians an estimated net loss in the region of RM 40 billion to RM50 billion, depending largely on what we can recover.
"In that context, a settlement with Goldman Sachs touted at US 3.9 billion (RM16.6 billion) is not a final solution. What is more worrying is that the terms are vague on the matter of the Goldman guarantee, amounting to US$1.4 billion," said Wong Chen (above) in a press conference at the Dewan Rakyat today.
On Friday, the finance minister announced that Goldman Sachs had agreed to a US$3.9 billion settlement with the Malaysian government that would involve US$2.5 billion (RM10.66 billion) in cash and a promise to eventually handover US$1.4 billion (RM5.97 billion) in assets, saying it was a large increase from the US$1.75 billion (RM7.46 billion) offer made to the government in 2019.
The assets, however, will need to be recovered from abroad in which Goldman Sachs has pledged to finance the recovery process, said the Finance Ministry.
Wong Chen asked the minister to spell out what exactly the Goldman guarantee entailed and what efforts are Goldman Sachs putting in to recover the said amount of US 1.4 billion.
He also asked if the amount was part of what the US government has already recovered and/or was in the process of recovering and what time frame had been given to Goldman Sachs to recover the same before they have to pay Malaysia the US 1.4 billion?
"Without full disclosure, Malaysians cannot properly assess the true value of the compensation," he said.
Claiming that the PN government has already inflated the Covid-19 financial support to RM295 billion, Wong asked if it would inflate numbers in the settlement case too?
"The Finance Minister also has to fully disclose what are the legal implications to Goldman Sachs in terms of criminal liability. The government should not allow persons directly involved in criminal activities to get away with just a financial penalty."
"Lastly, I urge the PN government to disclose their efforts in recovering money from Jho Low (below) and his associates. What progress, if any has been made on that front?" he demanded.
In its statement on Friday, the ministry had said the settlement was an admission of guilt by Goldman Sachs on the wrongdoings of two of its former staff in a scheme to defraud 1MDB.
"This settlement will not jeopardise Malaysia's claims against Jho Low and other individuals in the 1MDB scandal," it had added.
Yesterday, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng asked if Malaysia was being shortchanged in the settlement, claiming that the previous Pakatan Harapan government had claimed US$7.5 billion (RM31.97 billion) which included the value of the three bonds Goldman Sachs arranged for 1MDB worth US$6.5 billion (RM27.71 billion) and an additional US$1 billion (RM4.26 billion) to cover the interest cost to date.
