Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak is in the headlines yet again over the 1MDB scandal, even as the trial of ex-Goldman Sachs banker, Malaysian Roger Ng, has been put on pause in the United States.
Revelations from the trial, as well as recent letters from former Malaysian PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Johor voters, may just put a kink into Najib’s comeback plans.
1MDB Scandal
Najib, along with fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, and several other associates, is said to have siphoned as much as S$6 billion from 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, between 2009 and 2015.
In 2019, the United States Department of Justice labelled the 1MDB scandal the “largest kleptocracy case to date”.
The fallout is a huge reason that Najib’s Barisan Nasional lost in the Malaysian general elections in May 2018 though Najib held onto his own parliamentary seat. He had been prime minister since 2009.
In 2020, Malaysia’s High Court convicted Najib on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust, making him the country’s first prime minister to be convicted of corruption. Sentenced to 12 years in jail and a fine of RM210 million (S$68.05 million), Najib appealed and failed. He has now appealed to the Federal Court., Malaysia’s apex court.
That has not kept Najib, still popular with many, from hitting the comeback trail since his fall from grace. His plans may have hit a snag with recent revelations at the New York trial of Ng, as well as an open letter from ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Roger Ng’s Trial
On Feb 22, the second day of Ng’s trial on bribery and money laundering charges, the court heard that when Najib met with then Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein in 2009, he asked for jobs for his three children at the bank in return for business deals, Bloomberg reported on Feb 23.
That was according to the star witness, Tim Leissner, who had been Goldman Sachs’ top man in South East Asia.
Leissner produced this email from Ng, then Goldman’s head of investment banking in Malaysia: “Just met PM’s three children with Jho (Low) at his apartment. We’ll work on getting them to join GS (Goldman Sachs).”
“Sounds good my friend. Get them in,” Leissner replied. Instead, he used his connections to get one of Najib’s daughters hired by US private equity firm TPG capital in Hong Kong, instead.
Leissner has admitted violating anti-bribery laws and is cooperating with the prosecution.
Denials from Najib
Najib has denied the allegations in a Feb 23 Facebook post, saying “None of my children had ever been offered a job at Goldman Sachs and had never worked at that US bank.”
He said Leissner had played a part in getting his daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib, a job at TPG, but it had “nothing to do with Goldman Sachs”.
The daughter , a graduate in international politics, says that Leissner did indeed get her an introduction, MalaysiaNow reports. She writes on Facebook: “I interviewed for an intern analyst position at the TPG London office… This means you’re at the bottom of the food chain.. Besides your core job scope you’re also responsible for the spadework. You;re the PowerPoint girl, the photocopying girl, the coffeee girl and the delivery girl just to name a few.”
Mahathir weighs in
At 96, the energetic former prime minister has been writing open letters against Najib. Dr Mahathir, said Najib was “not one bit remorseful” even after convictions over his involvement in the 1MDB scandal, and “must be stopped”.
“If he comes back to power, this means that the country will be controlled by a kleptocrat from the ‘court cluster’ and risks being robbed,” Dr Mahathir wrote in a Feb 19 open letter to voters in Johor, who are due to vote in state elections on Mar 12.
He insists there is “no desire for personal revenge on my part towards Najib” but added that “Najib meanwhile stole the country’s assets with the help of Jho Low”.
/TISG