Singapore and U.S. authorities are preparing to return money allegedly misappropriated from state investment fund 1MDB to Malaysia.
The S$35 million (US$26 million) surrendered by former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and his family to Singapore authorities will be repatriated to Malaysia, Bloomberg reported. This follows a court order issued on March 21, which cleared the way for the funds to be returned to 1MDB.
Ng was the deputy to Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs' former head of Asian investment banking business who faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to his involvement in the scandal. Ng, who denies any wrongdoing, faces charges in the U.S. and Malaysia over his role in the US$6.5 billion of 1MDB bond sales that Goldman arranged.
U.S. Repatriation
At the same time, the U.S. is preparing to repatriate some $200 million, Bloomberg reported. This sum includes $140 million raised from the sale of a stake in New York's Park Lane Hotel to an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund after fugitive financier Jho Low agreed to drop claims to the property.
The other portion of funds comes from the settlement of around $60 million from the producers of the film «The Wolf of Wall Street» over claims that money siphoned from 1MDB was used to finance the film. The money was paid by Red Granite Pictures, co-founded by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz to the U.S. Justice Department.
According to Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources, the funds could be transferred to Malaysia as early as next week.
