KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today fixed Sept 4 for further case management to obtain the latest development on the status of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa’s criminal charges in the United States (US).
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan adjourned the matter to the date so that the court could be informed on the position of the accused’s case in the US.
He also maintained the trial dates that have been previously fixed from Nov 9 to 13 this year.
The 47-year-old accused is facing four counts of abetting Goldman Sachs pertaining to the sale of guaranteed notes and bonds belonging to a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to US$6.5 billion.
Earlier, Ng’s counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan said he was informed that a case management date has been fixed in July for Roger’s case at the US District Court, Eastern District of New York.
However, he said, he was not involved in his client’s case in the US.
“I do not intend to attend the trial (in the US). There is a case management there in July and then the court in New York will fix the trial dates. When I know, I can inform, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers is in a better position to update because they are in touch with the US Department of Justice (DoJ),“ he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir appeared for the prosecution.
On Dec 19, 2018, Ng was charged at the Sessions Court here with four counts of abetting Goldman Sachs pertaining to the sale of guaranteed notes and bonds belonging to an 1MDB subsidiary, amounting to US$6.5 billion, by omitting material facts and making false statements.
He was alleged to have committed the offences at the 1MDB office, at Level 8, Menara IMC, No. 8, Jalan Sultan Ismail here between March 19, 2012, and Nov 11, 2013 and was charged under Subsection 370(c) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, with a punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine not less than RM1 million upon conviction.
Ng pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
In May last year, Ng was extradited to the US to face criminal charges by the US Department of Justice in relation to the 1MDB scandal. -Bernama
