Tommy Thomas was keen on an out of court settlement over the 1MDB debts with US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz today revealed that the previous government was keen on an out of court settlement over the 1MDB debts with US investment bank Goldman Sachs. He told the Dewan Rakyat of a letter dated Feb 11, 2020, where former attorney-general Tommy Thomas had told former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Goldman Sachs had agreed to increase its offer to US$1.75 billion.He added that the former AG had suggested that ways be found to settle the matter out of court.
“This is different with his statement that the PN government should not accept the out of court settlement,” he added. Zafrul said a Dec 13, 2019 record showed the previous government had offered a settlement of US$4 billion to Goldman Sachs.Recently it was reported that Goldman Sachs had reached a US$3.9 billion settlement with the Malaysian government over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.The deal includes a $2.5 billion cash payout by Goldman and a guarantee by the bank to return at least $1.4 billion in assets linked to 1MDB bonds, Malaysia’s finance ministry had said in a statement.