UK-based Goldman Sachs International Ltd and its Asian entities, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Goldman Sachs (Singapore), pleaded not guilty at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today to charges on the sale of 1MDB bonds amounting to RM27.2 billion.

Goldman Sachs representative Ng Keng Leong made the plea after all the charges were read out before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan by the court interpreter during the case management today.

Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir, Norinna Bahadun, Aaron Chelliah and Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam appeared for the prosecution, while lawyers Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Krishna Dallumah, Prem Ramachandran and Chetan Jethawani represented Goldman Sachs.

Zaki Asyraf requested all the charges against the three entities to be tried together and also told the court that the prosecution would call 30 witnesses.

Following which, Mohamed Zaini set the hearing to begin in November this year.

The court also fixed May 18 for case management.

In December 2018, Malaysia filed four charges against Goldman Sachs International Ltd, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Goldman Sachs (Singapore) for allegedly leaving out material facts on the sales of bonds between a subsidiary of 1MDB and Aabar Investment PJS Ltd.

The offences were allegedly committed at the 1MDB office at Menara IMC, Kuala Lumpur, between March 19, 2012, and Nov 11, 2013.

The company was charged under Section 179 (c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 and punishable under Section 182 of the same Act which provides for imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years and fined not less than RM1 million, upon conviction.

The United States Department of Justice estimated that about US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014.

- Bernama