Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Charges in Malaysia for Helping Billions Vanish from State Fund

Corruption is Everywhere - in Malaysia, in Goldman Sachs, apparently

FILE PHOTO: A Goldman Sachs sign at the New York Stock Exchange © Reuters / Lucas Jackson

Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two ex-bankers over the multi-billion dollar looting of state fund, 1MDB. The US bank denies the accusation, claiming it was deceived by the previous Malaysian government.

The subsidiaries of the Wall Street banking giant and its former key employees, ex-chairman of Goldman’s South East Asia, Tim Leissner, and ex-managing director, Roger Ng, are accused of giving false statements when helping to arrange bonds for 1MDB, Malaysia’s Attorney General Tommy Thomas announced on Monday.

Malaysia says the accused wanted to misappropriate $2.7 billion from $6.5 billion in bonds, issued by 1MDB and underwritten by Goldman Sachs, in three separate offerings between 2012 and 2013.

Malaysia also filed charges against former employee of 1MDB Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and local financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who maintains his innocence. The prosecution believes the duo conspired with Leissner and Ng to bribe officials in order to procure the selection, involvement and participation of Goldman Sachs in these bond issuances.

Now Kuala Lumpur is seeking to take back the misappropriated $2.7 billion from Goldman Sachs as well as $600 million in fees received by the bank. The prosecution is demanding fines and up to 10 years behind bars for each of the accused. The fines may amount to at least 1 million ringgit ($240,000), according to the charge sheets, seen by Reuters.

Billions of dollars from the Malaysian fund were reportedly used to buy everything from Beverly hills mansions, yachts and a private jet to artworks among other things in a fraud that allegedly involved former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

As Malaysia brought the charges, the bank hit back, claiming that it was the victim of deceptive Malaysian officials. The long-running scandal has already rocked the bank’s shares this year, which dropped more than 30 percent.

“Certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to Goldman Sachs, outside counsel and others about the use of proceeds from these transactions,” Goldman said in a statement cited by media. It added that the charges have no effect on its “ability to conduct our current business globally.”

Analysts warn that the scandal is just the tip of the iceberg of the bank’s “criminal” deeds. Despite being investigated in several countries, including in the US, no matter the crimes, Goldman chiefs will never go to jail as they are too close to both sides of the US political aisle, Jack Rasmus, professor of political economy at St. Mary's College told RT. He also warned that the bank is driving the world to the next financial crisis.

“They just haven’t been caught in the other places,” Rasmus said in an interview to RT. “We’re on the verge of another financial crisis that will make the last one pale in comparison and Goldman Sachs and businesses like them are at the center of the cause of this.”

Wing-part Found on Reunion Island is from MH370 - Malaysian PM

This is no surprise! It was the only possible outcome as 

I wrote on July 30th

Debris that washed up on Reunion Island is that from missing MH370, the Malaysian Prime Minister has confirmed.

The discovery of a 7ft-long wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian
Ocean is that from MH370, which went missing in March last year 

Najib Razak has said that the wing fragment found last week was from the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing last March, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Experts in France had been examining the debris, which was found on a beach and it is now the first sign of the aircraft since it went off radar.

The confirmation was made in a press conference by Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak who said he was delivering the news with a 'heavy heart'

He said: 'Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370.'  

Experts had previously used computer calculations in June 2014 to decide that debris would first be found on the west coast of Indonesia.

This was based on the movement of currents in a general anti-clockwise direction, which would have carried debris from the search area off the south west coast of Australia towards the north east.

But the discovery of part of the wing suspected of being from MH370 on Reunion Island last week has resulted in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau issuing a statement today admitting an error.

The Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search said initial drift modelling had mistakenly indicated the first possible landfall of debris would be on the west of Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

However, the bureau insisted today that the mistake did not affect the extensive international surface search for the missing plane off the south west coast of Australia.

The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing 515 days ago
while en route from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing

The bureau said: 'While this error in that model had no impact on the way the surface search was conducted, it was important in order to understand over the course of time where debris might wash up and help verify or discount the various items found on beaches, particularly on the west coast of Australia.'

The ongoing confusion about where the plane crashed remained today as officials in France prepared to examine the wing part - testing that will involve trying to establish how the flaperon was torn off, where barnacles on the part might have originated and which airline had painted the part in white.

MH370: Plane Wreckage Found in Indian Ocean Being Tested - Updated

Update: 30 July 2015

Manufacturing numbers on the piece of wreckage found on Reunion Island is identified as from a Boeing 777.

Also, there is no record of a Boeing 777 ever crashing anywhere in the southern hemisphere.

And, because the wreckage floats, it could have carried on the east to west currents between Australia and Africa for thousands of miles. Barnacles growing on it indicate that it had been in the water for at least a year. MH370 disappeared 15 months ago.

A fragment of luggage also washed up onshore.

So, it appears the wing-part was from MH370, which almost certainly confirms that it crashed in the ocean, but we are not much closer to finding the main wreckage than before. Backtracking currents may provide searchers with an intersecting arc to narrow the search area, but that has yet to be seen.

Police inspect the debris washed up on the island of Reunion

From BBC Asia

French officials are investigating whether plane wreckage that washed up on an Indian Ocean island is from missing flight MH370.

The debris, apparently a wing flap, was found on French-owned Reunion.

An aviation security expert said it had "incredible similarities" to a flap from a Boeing 777, the type of plane that vanished in March 2014.

Malaysian Air MH370

But the island is a huge distance from the plane's search area and there have been other crashes much closer.

No part of the Malaysian Airlines flight has ever been found. It disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Aviation expert Xavier Tytelman said a code on the plane would be examined, promising a "definitive answer" on whether there was a link in a few days.

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found on
the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion

French air transport officials are investigating the mysterious two-metre-long piece of wreckage
Australian investigators, who are leading the hunt, are also reported to be in touch with manufacturers over the find.

But a member of the French Air Force cautioned it was "way too soon" to say if it was from the missing flight, according to CNN.

Search teams have been focusing on a 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq mile) area off the coast of Western Australia, where it is believed to have crashed.

Reunion lies some 6,000 km (3,730 miles) to the west, off the coast of Madagascar.

Reunion is an unlikely place for MH370 debris to appear,
but one never knows

It remains a mystery what happened to the plane, which vanished after turning away from its north-bound route from Kuala Lumpur.

Did MH370 have the range to reach Reunion? 

Yes, 777s have a range of about 6000 miles, while Reunion is about 3000 miles from Kuala Lumpur. MH370 could have reached well into Africa. However, the plane would have had to fly almost directly over the island of Maritius before getting close to Reunion. It should have been noticed, especially if it was losing altitude.

A number of theories have been proposed as to what happened to MH370, you can read some of them here