KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 5): Imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that "there was nothing sinister" about his meeting with then-Goldman Sachs chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein in 2009.
Taking the stand to testify in his defence in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, Najib said that any insinuation that he had "conspired" with Blankfein, along with then-Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia head Timothy Leissner, and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) to plunder 1MDB, was "baseless".
"The insinuation that I would conspire with Blankfein, Leissner, and Jho Low to devise a scheme to misappropriate funds from 1MDB is utterly absurd and baseless," Najib said.
The former PM once again cited Leissner's 2022 testimony in the 1MDB-linked bribery trial of his ex-colleague Roger Ng in New York, saying that Leissner did not mention anything "sinister" about the meeting during the trial.
"It was a brief meeting, with Blankfein and several executives from Goldman Sachs. Such an allegation is baseless, as it attempts to infer something sinister from what was merely a professional courtesy call," Najib said of the meeting in New York.
On Thursday, Najib testified that the meeting took place during a tightly scheduled two-day trip to the Big Apple, which was primarily to encourage more investments in Malaysia.
He said that during the trip, he met with many other prominent business leaders, such as the president of Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions and president of Forbes Inc, Steve Forbes. He also had dinner with the then-secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
Najib said that Blankfein had paid him a courtesy visit at the Four Seasons Hotel, New York. Besides Leissner, the former PM said that there were other Goldman Sachs bankers, as well as then-1MDB chairman Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and then-1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
Najib said that Jho Low was also present, but he remained at the back of the room and did not participate in the meeting.
"During the meeting, I had a pleasant conversation with Blankfein, who expressed Goldman Sachs’ sustained interest in Southeast Asia, recognising the region’s dynamic economic growth and investment potential. He shared that Goldman Sachs was actively pursuing various initiatives to strengthen its presence and capitalise on emerging opportunities in the region, including Malaysia, and he was confident of the success of our national transformation policy. I welcomed this development and viewed it as an opportunity for Goldman Sachs to support Malaysia’s growth," Najib said.
Goldman Sachs had acted as lead arranger for some of 1MDB's bond issuance, all the while pocketing an exorbitant fee. The monies from the bond issuance were all misappropriated.
In this trial, Najib is facing four abuse of power and 21 money-laundering charges.
The trial before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Friday.