By Jason Thomas, Free Malaysia Today (25 March 2022)
PETALING JAYA: Subang MP Wong Chen has asked whether the Securities Commission (SC) will probe Genting Bhd after testimony by former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner in a US court linked one of its subsidiaries to the 1MDB scandal.
According to a report in The Edge, former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia chairman Leissner testified that he transferred US$14 million (RM45 million) to a member of the Lim family, which controls Genting Bhd, to help push through Genting Power Holding Ltd’s sale of a power plant to 1MDB in 2012.
“I want to ask if the deputy minister (deputy finance minister Yamani Hafez Musa) will order SC to investigate this and give MACC (the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) its full support if action needs to be taken,” he said during a debate at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Yamani replied that the question should be directed to finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz.
Contacted by FMT, Wong pointed out that the SC would be the appropriate body to investigate Genting Bhd as the conglomerate is listed on Bursa Malaysia, which the SC regulates.
The SC, in turn, reports to the finance minister.
The Edge reported yesterday that Leissner, a star witness in the bribery trial of his former subordinate at Goldman Sachs, Roger Ng, confirmed that he had received US$28 million from Genting Power in late 2012, and US$14 million was then transferred to a member of the Lim family.
According to the Genting Bhd website, Genting Power spearheads the group’s power businesses and has interests in coal-fired, gas-fired and wind power plants in China, India and Indonesia.