At the 1MDB trial in the United States, a key witness who worked for global banker Goldman Sachs delivered juicy allegations that rocked Malaysia to the core.
Sex, bribes, Bank Negara and Najib begging for his children to get jobs at Goldman Sachs were all shocking disclosures for many.
Leissner revealed he had affairs with three Malaysian women, and one of them blackmailed him to buy a $10 million apartment in London.
If he did not comply, the then CEO of the country’s largest pay-TV provider in Kuala Lumpur would have exposed his role in the 1MDB scandal in 2013.
Leissner’s testimony, concerning his decade-long romantic involvement with the former CEO of Astro Malaysia, is trending in Malaysia’s social media.
When Leissner married American model and TV personality Kimora Lee Simmons in 2013, he announced that he stopped the affair with Rozana.
The betrayed CEO, according to Leissner, then threatened to disclose his involvement in the 1MDB operations unless he purchased her a multimillion-dollar London home.
The property was afterwards purchased by the ex-banker.
“If I didn’t buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time, 2013, I was very fearful of that,” Leissner was quoted as saying.
Following Najib’s loss in elections a month earlier, Rohana resigned from Astro in June 2018, saying that she wants “to pursue other interests.”
Begging for jobs?
According to Tim Leissner, a Goldman Sachs middleman in the 1MDB controversy, Najib met with the bank’s ex-global boss Lloyd Blankfein at fugitive Jho Low’s flat and begged him to provide his children employment.
The meeting was held in the flat of Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian businessman largely regarded as the mastermind of the heist.
“Just met PM’s three children with Jho at his apartment,” Leissner read to the jurors from an email Ng sent him, Bloomberg reported. “We’ll work on getting them to join GS.”
Leissner replied to Ng: “Sounds good my friend. Get them in.”
Najib denies that his children have ever worked for Goldman Sachs, although Leissner claims that he assisted Najib’s daughter in obtaining employment with an MNC.
On the defensive, Najib alleges the bank attempted to bribe him, deflecting attention away from new allegations that ex-central banker Zeti Akhtar Aziz approved the transfer of US$1 billion in 1MDB money.
More sex and bribes
Leissner told US prosecutors that the money transfer was authorised by Malaysia’s Bank Negara after bribes were made to Zeti’s husband.
The juicy disclosures in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal continue to send shockwaves, with Najib scurrying on Wednesday to contradict evidence by the crucial witness.
Former banker Tim Leissner testified that Bank Negara Malaysia allowed an “overnight” US$1 billion foreign exchange transfer from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International.
This happened after then-central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s husband was reportedly bribed to “make it happen.”
The overnight transfer of US$1 billion from 1MDB to PetroSaudi was “unprecedented,” according to Leissner.
Leissner is the star witness in the prosecution of Roger Ng, former Goldman Sachs head of investment banking in Malaysia.
This US$1 billion is said to have included US$700 million to Good Star Ltd, which is reportedly owned by Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
Meanwhile, Zeti has kept mute on the disclosures, but the three ladies who ended up in bed with Leissner are having a social media frenzy.
Sarawak woman
According to court records, the prosecution presented Leissner with email printouts that he indicated were linked to setting up meetings in Beijing with Low, also known as Jho Low, and government officials.
When questioned who he was travelling with, Leissner stated that it was the niece of a previous Sarawak chief minister.
Leissner was legally married to someone else at the time. Leissner is married to Kimora Lee.
Prosecutor Drew Rolle: So were you having an affair with Ms [name withheld]?
Leissner: Yes.
Rolle: And who was she, Ms [name withheld]?
Leissner: She was Malaysian and she was the niece of (a former) chief minister of Sarawak.
Rolle: She was related to a government official?
Leissner: She was the niece of the chief minister, yes.
Rolle: At that point had Goldman Sachs done business in Sarawak?
Leissner: Yes, we had.
But Leissner says the relationship with the niece of the former Sarawak CM did not ‘really’ impact on the business deals.
He also said he had an affair with the daughter of a Malaysian ambassador to the US.
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