COMMENT | In July 2020, then-finance minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced that Goldman Sachs Group Inc would hand over a cash payment of US$2.5 billion (RM10.66 billion) to the Malaysian government to resolve outstanding claims related to 1MDB in the next two months.

The cash payment, he said, was part of a total settlement of US$3.9 billion (RM16.63 billion) which the group had agreed to resolve over outstanding claims related to the three bond transactions that the Wall Street bank had structured and arranged for 1MDB.

The balance of US$1.4 billion (RM5.97 billion) will be paid...