1MDB trial: Roger Ng says wasn't charged in US with conspiring with Najib
PUTRAJAYA, April 24 — Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng today confirmed that he was not charged in the US with conspiring with former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the High Court heard today.
Ng was testifying as the 25th defence witness in Najib's trial in Malaysia, which involves over RM2 billion of 1MDB funds which allegedly entered the former finance minister's personal bank accounts.
Najib's lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today asked: 'Were you or anyone of you charged of being in conspiracy with Datuk Seri Najib in the charge?'
Ng replied: 'I don't believe so, yeah.'
Previously, Ng was charged in the US with three counts of being in conspiracy, namely conspiring to carry out money laundering of billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB, conspiring to break a US law by paying over US$1.6 billion in bribes to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, and by circumventing Goldman Sachs' internal accounting controls.
Ng confirmed that these three counts of 1MDB-related conspiracy charges in the US against him had mentioned his alleged co-conspirators to be former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner and Low Taek Jho.
He confirmed both Leissner and Low were also charged in the US over the same offences.
Based on the US Department of Justice's past announcements on the case, the 1MDB scheme included an alleged conspiracy to launder money including the financing of major Hollywood films such as The Wolf of Wall Street, and Low and Leissner's discussions before US$4.1 million was sent to a New York jeweller partly to pay for gold jewellery 'for the wife of Malaysian Official #1'.
Ng said his defence in the US case for the three charges was that he was not a conspirator in the 1MDB scheme.
Ng was found guilty in the US of all three charges, and was sentenced on March 9, 2023 in the US to 10 years' jail.
However, Ng has not served his jail term in the US, as the date of his imprisonment was suspended following his return to Malaysia in October 2023.
Ng has also appealed his conviction in the US, and is currently waiting for a US court there to decide on his appeal and does not know the decision date yet.
Initially when Ng was sent back to Malaysia, it was for him to face criminal charges at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
When he returned in October 2023, Ng said he learnt from his lawyers that the High Court had on January 9, 2023 granted a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for his case, as the case had gone on for too long and the trial had not started.
Asked by Shafee, Ng confirmed he has yet to be charged again in Malaysia over the same offences and does not know if he would be charged again.
Ng also said he was informed that he was sent back to Malaysia to assist the Malaysian government and to assist in a police investigation. He confirmed that he has done so by answering questions from the Malaysian police's investigators.
Ng, who was dressed in a dark-coloured suit with a tie and testified for over an hour, today declined to answer certain questions due to a US court order that prevents him from making statements on information he had obtained before and during his US trial.
1MDB trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the High Court here is not bound by what the US court dictates, but also said he understood Ng's predicament.
At one point, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib raised his objections to Shafee's questions on when or how Ng was brought back to Malaysia, describing it as a 'fishing expedition' on points that were not relevant to Najib's trial, and also pointing out that Ng is not the one on trial here.
Shafee argued that his questions were relevant and later continued asking questions on several more areas before concluding his examination of Ng.
Shafee said his client's case is 'coming to a close', as there are only a few more defence witnesses to be called.
The 1MDB trial resumes this afternoon.
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