Malaysian PM hopeful of 1MDB settlement with Goldman Sachs
KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is hopeful of reaching an out-of-court settlement with Goldman Sachs over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal soon, but that compensation of "one point something billion" dollars offered by the bank was too small.
Malaysia has charged Goldman and 17 current and former directors of its units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling US$6.5 billion (S$8.8 billion) that the US bank helped raise for sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia has demanded US$7.5 billion from Goldman and negotiations were ongoing.
"We would like to avoid having to go to the courts, but if they come up with a reasonable sum I think we will agree," he said.
"But at the moment their offer is too small. We're continuing to talk with them to explain why they should pay what we demand. Of course it's not the full amount, that they may be able to bring down, but we think that we can reach some agreement at a later stage."
Dr Mahathir said he hoped an agreement with Goldman would be reached "soon".
"Yes, I want to achieve a settlement. We are progressing, if we fail then we'll go to the courts," he said.
Goldman could also separately end up paying less than US$2 billion to US authorities to resolve criminal and regulatory probes connected to the scandal, Bloomberg reported last week. - REUTERS
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