1MDB: Roger Ng granted DNAA pending sentencing in US trial

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has given former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) over four counts of abetting the company in the sale of security notes and bonds worth US$6.5bil belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) subsidiaries.

Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin made the ruling on Monday (Jan 9) after deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir made an application pending sentencing phase in Ng's trial at the Eastern District of New York court.

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Zaki Asyraf had earlier said that the criminal trial against Ng at the US court was completed and the sentencing, which was supposed to be done in December, was postponed to February.

"The prosecution is still interested in pursuing this case in the future, but for the time being, to avoid any party wasting their time, the prosecution requests that the accused be given a discharge not amounting to acquittal until all legal processes (in the United States) are completed,” he said.

Ng’s counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan requested, however, that his client be released and freed from all charges as the case had taken so much time.

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On April 8, Ng was found guilty by a US court of conspiring to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB, but his sentence has yet to be decided.

On Dec 19, 2018, Ng pleaded not guilty to four counts of abetting Goldman Sachs over the sales of security notes and bonds by omitting material facts and making false statements.

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He was charged with committing the offences at the 1MDB office, 8th Floor, IMC Tower, Jalan Sultan Ismail here between March 19, 2012 and Nov 11, 2013.

In September 2021, charges against Goldman Sachs International Ltd and two of its entities in Asia, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC and Goldman Sachs (Singapore), were dropped after High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan allowed the prosecution’s application to retract the charges. – Bernama