NEW YORK: Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng asked for the foreign bribery case against him to be dismissed, saying he “warned” the bank not to do business with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho.

Ng, who says he told Goldman that Low was “not to be trusted”, is facing trial next year on charges of bribery and money-laundering conspiracy.

He is accused of helping former prime minister Najib Razak and others embezzle at least US$2.7 billion from 1MDB. Low, more commonly known as Jho Low, is accused of masterminding the scheme.

In a 126-page filing, Ng says the US has no business prosecuting him because the alleged crimes were committed in Malaysia. He also argues that his former boss, Tim Leissner, an ex-Goldman banker who has agreed to plead guilty and testify against him, is really the central figure in the scheme because he ultimately persuaded the bank to do business with Low.


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WASHINGTON, Nov 24 ― President Donald Trump came his closest yet to admitting election defeat today after the government agency meant to ease Joe Biden's transition into the White House said it was finally lifting its unprecedented block on assistance.

Trump acknowledged it was time for the General Services Administration to “do what needs to be done.”

In the same tweet he insisted that he was still refusing to concede, saying: “Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail!”


But for the Republican to sign off on the GSA's decision to work with the Biden transition team signaled that even he sees the writing on the wall after three weeks of evidence-free claims that the November 3 election was stolen from him.

This means that Biden's team will now has access to funds, office space and the ability to meet with federal officials.

Biden's office, which hours earlier announced a highly experienced group to be nominated for top US foreign policy and security posts, said the GSA would now allow “support necessary to carry out a smooth and peaceful transfer of power.”

“In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies,” Biden's transition director Yohannes Abraham said in a statement.

The sudden break in Trump's dogged attempt to deny Biden's win came after Michigan became the latest state to certify its results and more powerful Trump supporters came out demanding that the impasse end.


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PETALING JAYA: Maxis Bhd’s telecommunications subsidiary Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd has reportedly been slapped with a RM140 million tax bill by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

According to the Malaysian Reserve, the company was served with notices of additional assessment for the year 2016 and 2017.

The company was quoted as saying that the additional assessment arose from the disallowance of Maxis Broadband’s deduction of interest expenses incurred during the two years of assessment.

However, Maxis said it would challenge the basis and validity of the disputed notices of additional assessment and the penalty imposed.


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PETALING JAYA: Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin has said the party does not wish to be forced to accept anyone as its political partner.

Speaking on Umno’s cooperation with PAS under Muafakat Nasional (MN), Khaled expressed hope that PAS would respect the party’s stance against PPBM.

He said Umno’s current priority was achieving a double victory with PAS in the next general election, and that its cooperation with other parties was based on a “formula” that would give the party a “strategic advantage”.

“Umno is confident that PAS will not force Umno to accept PPBM, let alone simply give up seats to PPBM,” he said in a statement.

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• The United States reported more than 195,500 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, a record-high spike less than a week before Thanksgiving.
  
• More than 82,100 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country, more than at any point during the pandemic, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
  
• Earlier this week, Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s Covid-19 incident manager, said the agency is “alarmed” by the “exponential increase in cases and hospitalizations and deaths.”
  

Sarawak Report has learnt from sources close to the Goldman Sachs negotiations during the former PH government that the US bank had agreed as a starting point to commit to total transparency as the basis for any settlement over the 1MDB cases against it.

PH were looking for a far more generous payment for Malaysia, money that would have gone into the Assets Recovery Trust Account under the Ministry of Finance to be used to pay off the crushing debts still owed by 1MDB, which are a burden on the nation. No settlement had yet been reached.

However, shortly after their backdoor coup the PN government reached a speedy, cut-price settlement and apparently authorised a changing of the rules to include a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the details getting out, according to the PAS ‘Law Minister’ Takiyuddin Hassan speaking over the weekend.

The government has now used this as an excuse to slap an Official Secrecy order on the matter meaning that no one can be sure where Goldman’s $2.5 billion in hard cash has actually gone.

It makes you think, doesn’t it?

The first thing we are led to wonder is will 1MDB’s accounts suddenly once more also become an Official Secret, which was what previous government under Najib ordered to cover up their thefts?

After all, the vast majority of those in the present PN government were either directly supporting the convicted former prime minister in his thieving from the fund or secretly colluding whilst pretending to be in the opposition camp (i.e. PAS).

If the secret Goldman Sachs settlement money fails to be registered in 1MDB’s accounts as having been used to pay off debt then PN’s top dogs can hardly afford for the nation to know about it – particularly if the luxury vehicle loving clerics from PAS start sporting yet another range of brand new official cars.


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PETALING JAYA: Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, making a stand against political corruption, has said that he will not attend the debate on the 2021 budget while the legitimacy of the government had not been established.

In a letter to the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Azhar Azizan Harun, he told off the Speaker for having made what he described as a misconceived suggestion to consult the law minister about tabling a motion of no confidence in the prime minister.

“To discuss the budget without first establishing the legitimacy of the prime minister and his ministers “is to compromise on an important constitutional principle”, said Razaleigh, who is familiarly known as Ku Li.

Such a compromise would have serious consequences on the upholding of the Federal Constitution and said it was a “possible use of political corruption to maintain power”.


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