Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng told Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial today that he has yet to be charged in a local court over his alleged involvement in the issuance of 1MDB-related bonds since his return from the US.
Ng acknowledged that he had only secured a discharge not amounting to an acquittal in respect of the four charges brought against him under Section 370(1)(c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
Ng was charged in the sessions court in 2018, but the case was later transferred to the High Court which granted the discharge on Jan 9, 2023.
Ng was subsequently extradited to New York in 2019 to face corruption-related charges, and found guilty in April 2022.
“I wasn’t present in court (when the discharge was issued), but that was what I learned from my counsel (here),” Ng added.
Ng, who is testifying as a defence witness, told the court he was unsure if he would be charged again.
He said his return to Malaysia in October 2023 was “to assist in police investigations”.
Ng told the court that the 10-year jail sentence for corruption imposed by a New York court had been suspended indefinitely to facilitate his return to Malaysia.
I met Jho Low in 2009, Ng says
In his testimony, Ng said that he knew fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in or around 2009 while working in Goldman Sachs’s Singapore office.
“I don’t remember if he approached me or otherwise. There were rumours (at the time) that the Terengganu government wanted to set up a sovereign wealth fund,” he added.
He said he blamed Low, who was charged in absentia as a co-conspirator, at the hearing of his corruption case.
Asked by lawyer Shafee Abdullah whether he had raised red flags to Goldman Sachs about Low, the former banker said he had.
“However, I want to highlight that there is a protective order by the New York court which limits what I can say about the documents (in the trial),” he added.
Ng was allowed to leave the witness stand after deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib questioned the relevance of his evidence and told the court that the prosecution had no questions for him in cross-examination.
The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on May 5.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.