PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim may resort to suing Goldman Sachs to recover the money Malaysians are owed from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) money laundering scandal.
Speaking to CNBC’s Martin Soong in an exclusive interview on Friday (Aug 18), the Prime Minister said it was a definite possibility to recover the stolen funds.
“We’ll have to reopen negotiations with Goldman Sachs, because they were complicit in the crime.
“Unfortunately, they have not been too forthcoming. And we will therefore have no choice but to pursue this.
“Why must I punish the people of Malaysia by having to pay half the profits made by them? I just don’t say we should negotiate. It should return.
“I’m not discounting the possibility of proceeding again, the issue (of) lawsuits,” he said in the interview which was reported by CNBC on Monday (Aug 21).
Goldman Sachs in 2020 admitted to its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history, reaching multiple international settlements in the billions of dollars to end probes into its fundraising for 1MDB.
In exchange for withdrawing criminal charges and waiving future charges against the bank, Goldman Sachs agreed in July 2020 to repay Malaysia US$3.9bil (RM18.14bil).
However, Anwar's administration has said that the sum was too small. The deal was brokered by then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's government.
In the interview, which will be broadcast on The CNBC Conversation later this week, Anwar complimented Malaysian agencies for recovering up to 68% of the total sum absconded with during the 1MDB debacle. While he called it an “impressive feat,” he said he’s “not stopping at that.”
Anwar said Malaysian agencies were still in talks with Goldman Sachs, though ongoing discussions were “a bit complex.” He acknowledged there are “other routes to be taken” since lawsuits in the United States were going to “cost us a fortune.”
“No one can deny the fact that Goldman Sachs was used, and (also) partly used the authorities,” Anwar said in his interview.
“So it’s only fair we talk about governance, and these western countries – the United States, talking about democratic accountability, rule of law – to be supportive of our efforts to regain (the money).”
“As I’ve always said, you assault me, I can forgive you; you put me in jail, I forgive you; but you steal from the people, I will have to get it back,” Anwar said.
