Probe of ex-Astro CEO Rohana's case still ongoing, MACC clarifies

PUTRAJAYA: The investigation involving former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan is still ongoing, says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Its anti money-laundering division director Mohamad Zamri Zaindul Abidin said MACC was still looking at supposed assets worth about US$10mil (RM42.3mil).

“We are still investigating. The MACC is asking the public not to speculate about the case,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (April 13).

The clarification came following a report that Rohana had agreed in principle to return the US$10mil she received from her ex-lover and Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner.

The report quoted a source in MACC as saying that the graft-buster was working to recover the money.

Leissner, a former partner with Goldman Sachs in Asia, pleaded guilty in 2018 to a conspiracy to launder money and became the US prosecution’s star witness against his former colleague Roger Ng.

During the case proceedings in February, Leissner told a court in New York that he gave Rohana US$10mil from funds misappropriated from 1MDB and that the former Astro CEO used the money to buy a house worth US$7mil (RM29.6mil) in London.

Following that, the MACC began investigating Rohana, while she issued a statement saying she was ready to help the authorities in their investigation.