KUALA LUMPUR – Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng has lost his bid to avoid standing trial in Malaysia after Chief US District Judge Margo Brodie ordered his surrender to the US Marshals Service for repatriation.
Brodie said the US marshals will be escorting Ng to Malaysia, where he is expected to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
However, US prosecutors insisted that Ng be returned stateside to serve his 10-year prison sentence, and his lawyers have agreed, reported Reuters.
Previously, Brodie delayed Ng’s September 6 surrender date by one month after federal prosecutors said additional time was needed to talk with Malaysian authorities about letting Ng stand trial here.
In a separate letter to Brodie, lawyers hired this month by Malaysia’s government claimed that the US had “backtracked” on its commitments regarding Ng’s surrender and labelled the matter as “a very serious issue”.
Ng had acquired a three-month postponement for his jail sentence, initially slated to begin on May 4, with his lawyer Marc Agnifilo informing the court that the delay would allow Ng to spend more time with his wife and 10-year-old daughter.
Ng also said he had suffered enough during the six months he had spent in a Malaysian prison before being sent to New York, claiming that he was held in squalid conditions and was sometimes chained to 20 other inmates.
He was arrested in Malaysia in November 2018 and extradited to the US.
Ng was granted an additional last-minute postponement of 30 days in August to allow for talks between the US and Malaysian governments about the Malaysian’s possible return to his homeland to assist 1MDB investigations.
Agnifilo said then that the Malaysian government is seeking Ng’s return under a previous agreement with the US.
During his trial, Ng claimed that his former boss and co-conspirator Tim Leissner, as well as fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, were responsible for the multi-billion dollar fraud.
His trial in the US revealed new details of the 1MDB scheme, in which Low, who is a wanted person in several countries, hustled billions of dollars out of 1MDB immediately after each bond deal Goldman completed for the fund, according to testimony from prosecution witnesses. – October 6, 2023