KUALA LUMPUR – Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng has been granted another postponement of his 10-year prison sentence over charges of bribery and money laundering relating to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
According to Reuters, United States district judge Margo Brodie delayed Ng’s scheduled September 6 surrender date by one month to October 6 after federal prosecutors said additional time is needed to talk with Malaysian authorities about letting Ng stand trial here.
“The US is also working to ensure that the procedures governing the defendant’s return to Malaysia will not unduly delay the service of his US sentence,” prosecutors were quoted as saying.
In a separate letter to Brodie on Tuesday, lawyers hired this month by Malaysia’s government claimed that the US had “backtracked” on its commitments regarding Ng’s surrender and labelled the matter as “a very serious issue”.
Previously, Ng had acquired a three-month postponement for his jail sentence initially slated to begin on May 4, with his lawyer Marc Agnifilo informing the court that the delay would allow Ng to spend more time with his wife and 10-year-old daughter.
Ng also said he had suffered enough during the six months he had spent in a Malaysian prison before being sent to New York, claiming that he was held in squalid conditions and was sometimes chained to 20 other inmates.
Last month, Ng was granted an additional last-minute postponement of 30 days to allow for talks between the US and Malaysian government about the Malaysian’s possible return to his homeland to assist 1MDB investigations.
Agnifilo said then that the Malaysian government is seeking Ng’s return under a previous agreement with the US.
Yesterday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued lifetime prohibition orders against Ng, following his guilty conviction on April 8 last year for his role in looting 1MDB funds, conspiring to violate US anti-bribery laws and launder money.
During his trial, Ng claimed that his former boss and co-conspirator Tim Leissner as well as fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, were responsible for the multi-billion dollar fraud.
His trial in the US revealed new details of the 1MDB scheme, in which Low, who is a wanted person in several countries, hustled billions of dollars out of 1MDB immediately after each bond deal Goldman completed for the fund, according to testimony from prosecution witnesses.
According to the US, soon after investigations into 1MDB were launched in Malaysia and Singapore, Ng also deleted a series of email accounts he had used to communicate with Low and others involved in the scheme. – September 6, 2023