Tim Leissner’s testimony being further investigated
In his testimony, it was reported that Leissner told the US court that former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s husband Datuk Tawfiq Ayman was bribed to facilitate BNM approving an “overnight” foreign exchange transfer of some US$1bil (RM4.19bil) from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI).
(The Star) – Putrajaya intends to relook and obtain further information linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal following recent revelations in the US trial involving former chief of Goldman Sachs’ South-East Asia operations Tim Leissner, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
“We are tired of being accused by some quarters that there seems to be no end to this issue.
“Be assured that the government will use its government-to-government relations to obtain, as best as we can, information to further investigate and gather evidence with regard to 1MDB,” she said when replying to issues raised in Parliament’s Special Chambers on March 1.
She noted that what was revealed by Leissner at the trial was information which was unknown to the authorities here.
“The government only became aware of what transpired.
“Before this, such information was held by the Department of Justice in the US, which was not shared with the Malaysian government,” she said.
Mas Ermieyati described the recent development as a positive step forward in assisting authorities here to carry out further investigations into the 1MDB scandal.
“The Prime Minister said earlier in this House that he viewed corruption seriously and I, as the deputy minister in charge of law and Parliament, also take the matter seriously,” she said.
She was responding to issues raised during debates on an emergency motion by Opposition chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to discuss the revelations made by Leissner in the US trial.
Leissner is the star witness in the corruption trial against former head of investment banking for Goldman Sachs Malaysia, Roger Ng.
In his testimony, it was reported that Leissner told the US court that former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s husband Datuk Tawfiq Ayman was bribed to facilitate BNM approving an “overnight” foreign exchange transfer of some US$1bil (RM4.19bil) from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI).
Leissner also revealed that he gave the former Astro CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan, with whom he had an affair for a decade, a US$10mil home in London.
Leissner claimed his ex-lover had blackmailed him into buying her the London home and threatened to expose his involvement in 1MDB.
On investigations into Tawfik, Mas Ermieyati confirmed that police here had opened money laundering investigation papers against him on Oct 14 last year with findings submitted to the Attorney-General (AG) on Dec 7.
However, she said the AG had returned the investigation papers to the police on Dec 21 for them to carry out further investigations with their counterparts in Singapore.
Earlier, Anwar said the government must reveal information which BNM and other agencies were aware of with regard to their previous investigations into the 1MDB scandal.
He said the revelation by Leissner raised suspicions of a cover-up by the authorities.
He also called on the government to carry out detailed investigations into the revelations from Leissner.
Anwar said the investigation should be done not only by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) but also BNM, the Inland Revenue Board and the police.
Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) questioned why MACC had taken action against Rohana only after Leissner’s testimony.
“Why wasn’t action taken earlier before such revelations were made?” Lim asked.
He called for further investigations to be carried out against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whom he described as the “main character” in the scandal.
