Kuala Lumpur, Aug 9 (IANS) Malaysia on Friday filed criminal charges against 17 current and former executives of three local subsidiaries of the Goldman Sachs investment bank over a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal related to the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the attorney general's office said.
In a statement, Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said that the accused were being charged with perpetrating a scheme to defraud the government and purchase three 1MDB bonds worth $6.5 billion between 2012-13, reports Efe news.
"Custodial sentences and criminal fines will be sought against the accused," Thomas said.
The accused include Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Richard John Gnodde and executives from Goldman Sachs International and Goldman Sachs Asia LLC.
The 1MDB corruption scandal came to light in 2015, when a media investigation uncovered the diversion of funds worth nearly $681 million from the investment fund to the private accounts of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The scandal was a major reason behind Najib's defeat in the 2018 elections, after which he was charged with 42 crimes, including money laundering and abuse of power.
The US has said that some $4.5 billion were diverted and a quarter of that money was laundered inside the country via the purchase of real estate, yachts, jewellery and artworks.
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