Banker Tim Leissner was purportedly suspended by his employer Goldman Sachs Group Inc over an unauthorised reference letter he had written on behalf of businessman Low Taek Jho.

Goldman Sachs, in a regulatory filing last month, had disclosed that Leissner was placed on leave after the company discovered he wrote the reference letter which had “inaccurate” information, Bloomberg reported.

Citing three people “familiar with the matter”, Bloomberg reported that the letter was written on Goldman Sachs letterhead to another bank on behalf of Low.

Leissner, a former South-East Asia chairperson for the company, had helped 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) raise US$6.5 billion (about RM25 billion).

Both the US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have taken an interest in 1MDB and subpoenaed Leissner to appear before a grand jury this month to discuss Goldman Sachs’s role in funding 1MDB and related issues.

However, neither Leissner nor the bank is considered targets of the federal probe.

Investigations into 1MDB and companies linked to it are currently ongoing in Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK and Malaysia over its alleged financial irregularities while Low had had ties with 1MDB although the businessman had described it as mere “informal consulting” work.

Authorities in both Switzerland and Luxembourg are currently trying to determine if some of the billions raised by the state investment arm were siphoned into the personal accounts of certain politically connected individuals.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who heads the 1MDB’s advisory board, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.