Malaysia court sets June for next Goldman 1MDB case hearing

[KUALA LUMPUR] A Malaysian court set a new pretrial hearing date for the criminal case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc relating to the state investment fund 1MDB.

The June 24 hearing will give prosecutors more time to serve summons against two of three Goldman Sachs units at the centre of the allegations. At a hearing in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, only the US firm's Singapore unit was a respondent.

The New York-based bank is accused of misleading investors when it helped 1MDB raise US$6.5 billion through bond deals in 2012 and 2013, while allegedly knowing that the funds would be misappropriated. Prosecutors have said they will seek criminal fines in excess of the US$2.7 billion allegedly misappropriated from the bond proceeds, and the return of US$600 million of fees received by Goldman.

Malaysia filed the charges in December against Goldman Sachs International (UK), Goldman Sachs (Singapore) and Delaware-based Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC. The US bank has denied the allegations and said it will defend the charges.

Malaysia also levelled the same criminal charges of securities law violation against former Goldman Sachs bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, and 1MDB's former general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.

The next hearing on Ng's case was set for April 15, as prosecution lawyers await documents from an unidentified Singapore investment firm. They are also seeking cooperation from the authorities in the US, the UK and Hong Kong to provide documents relating to the case.

BLOOMBERG