The US Department of Justice has handed over the fourth and final tranche to the Malaysian government of USD 156 million of funds stolen from the national public investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), reports newspaper The Express Tribune.
„This substantial sum has been returned to the people of Malaysia to whom it belongs. Now these funds will be used for their intended purpose – to improve the lives of people in the country”, said US Ambassador Edgard Kagan in a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The 1MDB fund, set up to finance development projects in Malaysia, was at the center of a scandal after several billion dollars were withdrawn from it between 2009 and 2014. The scandal led to multiple government investigations and the resignation of Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2018, who was found guilty by court in 2020 of embezzlement and money laundering.
In the US, the former top manager of Goldman Sachs, Roger Nga, received an effective sentence for participating in a corruption scheme to drain billions of dollars from the 1MDB fund.
According to the US Department of Justice, a total of at least USDS 4.5 billion was stolen from the fund, which was used to bribe Malaysian government officials, transferred to former Prime Minister Razak and his family for buying expensive jewelry, art and real estate.
In July 2020, Goldman Sachs agreed with Malaysian authorities to settle US$3.9 billion in claims related to the bank's role in the 1MDB scandal.