Report
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
200 West St
Phone: (212) 902-1000p:212 902-1000 NEW YORK, NY  10282-2102  United States Ticker: GSGS


Singapore fines Goldman Sachs 165m dollars over 1MDB scandal


Text of report by website of Singapore newspaper The Straits Times

Goldman Sachs Singapore will pay US$122 million (S$165 million) to the Singapore Government for

The penalty is believed to be the largest imposed on a financial institution here.

The US$122 million will be paid by Goldman's local unit to the Singapore Government's Consolidated Fund within 5 working days from Oct 22.

The Singapore fine is on top of after its Malaysia unit said it will plead guilty to violating foreign bribery laws, drawing a line under a saga that has dogged the investment banking giant for years.

Singapore'sCommercial Affairs Department (CAD) has also served Goldman Sachs Singapore with a 36-month conditional warning, in lieu of prosecution, for three counts of corruption offences punishable under Section 5(b)(i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241.

Meanwhile the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has directed the Singapore unit of Goldman Sachs to appoint an independent external party to conduct a review of its remedial measures, it said in a joint statement with the Attorney-General's Chambers and CAD early on Friday morning (Oct 23).

MAS in a separate statement said that it has issued a lifetime ban against Kevin Michael Swampillai, the former head of the wealth management services at BSI Bank'sSingapore branch.

The lifetime prohibition orders (POs) against Swampillai were issued at the conclusion of an investigation conducted by the MAS and took effect on Oct 22, the regulator said.

BSI Bank'sSingapore unit was shut down in 2016 for its role in the scandal and the Swiss bank was slapped with a $13.3 million fine.

In its statement, MAS said that from 2012 to 2013, Mr Swampillai and his then-subordinate, Yeo Jiawei, had assisted 1MDB to restructure several of its joint venture interests. In that time, they channelled about US$5 million as a portion of the fund management fees - "secret profits" - to an entity beneficially owned by Mr Swampillai. This was done without BSI Bank's knowledge and authorisation.

MAS said Mr Swampillai also deliberately made misrepresentations to 1MDB's auditors in a bid to "improperly influence" them. He misrepresented that the assets held by PetroSaudi Oil Services, one of 1MDB's investments, were liquid in nature and mostly cash, even though he knew that the assets comprised two drill ships.

The 1MDB scandal dates to the government of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, which set up the 1MDB fund in 2009. According to US prosecutors, Goldman paid more than US$1.6 billion in bribes to foreign officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi between 2002 and 2014 to win 1MDB business.

Singapore's case against Goldman stems from CAD's investigation of Goldman Singapore's former managing directors, Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, over three bond offerings underwritten by Goldman Sachs International for 1MDB subsidiaries.

In August 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty in a US District Court to one count for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Following his guilty plea, MAS in December 2018 increased the 10-year PO against him to a lifetime ban.

Roger Ng is in the US, where he has been charged for conspiring to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. Under an extradition deal, Ng, a Malaysian national, will be returned to Malaysia after the completion of his US trial, which is due to begin next year.

In all, Goldman's penalties will exceed US$5 billion globally, equivalent to about two-thirds of a year's earnings.

Goldmane to the US Justice Department and other regulators, and a further US$600 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains to settle the US probe and avoid a criminal conviction.

This is in addition to the US$3.9 billion that Goldman has agreed to pay Malaysia in exchange for dropping all criminal charges against the bank. Hong Kong on Thursday also fined Goldman's Asia unit US$350 million.

In a Oct 22 memorandum addressed to all the employees of the bank globally, Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon said; "As you have all seen, the US Department of Justice, along with regulators in the US, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, announced settlements with Goldman Sachs that resolve the government and regulatory investigations of the 1MDB matter."

"This has been a long process and we are pleased to be putting these matters behind us. But, we are not putting the lessons learned from this experience behind us," he said.

Source: The Straits Times website, Singapore, in English 23 Oct 20


Related Businesses
- - Customer

Copyright © 2024 by CreditRiskMonitor.com (Ticker: CRMZ®). All rights reserved.  You are not permitted to use this report or the information contained herein for any purpose not expressly permitted by CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc. Except as expressly permitted by CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc., you are not permitted, in whole or in part, to copy, alter, correct, adapt, translate, enhance, lease, sell, sublicense, assign, distribute, publish, otherwise make available to any third party, or prepare derivative works or improvements of this report or any of the information contained therein. You are not permitted to reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, decode, or adapt the software, algorithms or other processes used to prepare this report, or otherwise attempt to derive or gain access to the source code of same. You agree not to remove, alter, obscure, combine or otherwise change any disclaimers, trademarks, copyrights, other intellectual property rights, proprietary rights, or other symbols, notices, marks, or serial numbers on or relating to any copy of the report or on marketing or other materials that CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc. may provide to you. You will not use this report in any manner or for any purpose that infringes, misappropriates, or otherwise violates any right of any party, or that violates any applicable law.  
The FRISK® scores, agency ratings, credit limit recommendations and other scores, analysis and commentary are opinions of CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc. and/or its suppliers, not statements of fact, and should be one of several factors in making credit decisions.  Any reliance you place on the information in this report is strictly at your own risk. Except as expressly provided by CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc., no warranties or representations of any type, including without limitation of results to be obtained, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made concerning any part of CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc.’s service, including without limitation the FRISK® scores.  The information published above has been obtained from sources CreditRiskMonitor considers to be reliable.  CreditRiskMonitor.com, Inc. and its third-party suppliers do not guarantee or validate the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in this report, the underlying information input to create the FRISK® scores, and specifically do not assume responsibility for not reporting any information omitted or withheld.  By using this website, you accept the Terms of Use Agreement
Contact Us: 845.230.3000
Fundamental financial data concerning public companies may be provided by Refinitiv (click for restrictions)
Friday, March 29, 2024