1MDB scandal: Singapore police investigates Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg reported

After punishing six bankers, Singapore is now investigating Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s relationship with 1MDB – the Malaysian investment fund at the centre of global money laundering probes.

Bloomberg reports today that the island republic’s Commercial Affairs Department, the police’s economic crime unit and city prosecutors have interviewed current and former Goldman Sachs executives who worked on bond offerings from 1Malaysia Development Berhad. 1MDB is a multi-billion national investment board for Malaysia that is aimed on encourage economic development and business creation.

Investigators are also looking into the firm’s links with Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, whom the US alleged controlled a plot to siphon off billions of dollars from the bond proceeds, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the probe.

The investigators’ meetings with current and former Goldman Sachs employees are part of a criminal probe into fund flows related to 1MDB, the people said. The bank itself isn’t the focus of the investigation.

Najib and 1MDB have denied any wrongdoing. A Goldman Sachs spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment.

MAS had in March also banned former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner from the security industry for 10 years for issuing an unauthorised letter and making false statements on behalf of the bank.

The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) also banned Leissner in September from the US securities industry for failure to provide documents and other information related to his departure from Goldman Sachs in early 2016. Leissner was suspended by Goldman over his role in 1MDB and his work on an Indonesian mining deal, and left the bank last year. Goldman raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB and earned nearly $600 million in fees

Malaysia's own judicial response have been light. Prime Minister Najib Razak was cleared of any wrong-doing by a parliamentary commission in the 1MDB case in 2016.