The investigation by Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department and city prosecutors is a criminal probe into the 1MDB fund flows and it is Goldman’s role in arranging these deals that is under scrutiny.
Unnamed sources told the newswire that police have interviewed bank executives who worked on 1MDB bond offerings, which netted Goldman $593m (£450m, €509m) in fees and commissions.
Investigators are also looking into the firm’s links with Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), who the US believe was at the heart of a scheme to siphon billions from the bond proceeds.
Bloomberg was told by its sources that the bank itself is not the focus of the investigation. When contacted by the newswire, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to comment.
Industry bans
The recent interviews are not the first time the bank has been embroiled in the long-running 1MDB saga.
The New York-based bank’s former southeast Asia chairman and star dealmaker for the region, Tim Leissner, was banned from working in Singapore’s financial services industry for 10 years in March 2017 for his involvement with 1MDB.
Leissner, who is married to former US model Kimora Lee Simmons, was responsible for managing the relationship with 1MDB when Goldman arranged three bond issues in 2012 and 2013. He issued a letter to a financial institution in Luxembourg in June 2015 vouching for Jho Low without the knowledge or consent of the bank.
