Malaysia is considering initiating legal proceedings against banks related to the troubled 1MDB state fund, as the government works to recoup assets lost from the multibillion-dollar scandal, Bloomberg News reported. “A number of foreign banks” facilitated fund transfers linked to 1MDB without conducting proper processes “at that material time,” Johari Abdul Ghani, who leads a taskforce to recover 1MDB assets, said in a statement. He did not identify the banks.
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Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden (2007.HK) said on Monday its $100-billion project in Malaysia was proceeding as planned and it had sufficient assets, despite concerns about its financial strength amid debt woes, Reuters reported. The comment by China's largest private developer came after it missed two dollar coupon payments this month totaling $22.5 million, fuelling fears that the country's property debt crisis could hamper a broader economic recovery and spill overseas.
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Malaysia may pursue lawsuits against Goldman Sachs over the U.S. investment bank's role in the multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at state fund 1MDB, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview with CNBC, Reuters reported. Goldman settled with Malaysia in 2020 by agreeing to pay $2.5 billion in cash and guaranteeing the return of $1.4 billion in assets to the country in exchange for dropping all criminal charges against the bank. But Anwar, who came to power in late 2022, said earlier this year that Malaysia was re-evaluating the deal as the settlement sum was small.
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Not long ago, Huobi was one of the top crypto exchanges in the world, Bitcoinist reported. At its peak, it was processing over $2 billion in trades per day and ranked third in total volume. These days, Huobi seems to be losing steam. Recent reports and data shared by Willy Woo, a crypto expert on Twitter, indicate that the exchange’s transaction volume and web traffic appear to have suffered a plunge in recent months. Crypto balances held on the Huobi exchange have decreased by over 90% since late 2020.
The amendment to the Insolvency Act 1967 will allow two more categories of bankrupt individuals to qualify for discharge through the director-general of insolvency's certificate of discharge without going through debtors' objections, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman said, Malaysia Now reported.
The Malaysian government is re-evaluating a $3.9 billion settlement deal reached between the previous administration and U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs over the 1MDB financial scandal, state news agency Bernama reported on Monday, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday a government taskforce looking into 1MDB issues was scrutinising the 2020 deal with Goldman, adding that it was a matter of recovering public funds, Bernama reported.
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The proposed amendments to the Malaysian Insolvency Act 1967, as announced in the revised 2023 Budget, will be tabled in Parliament next month, the New Straits Times reported. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the amendments to the Act would improve the administration and management of the country's bankruptcy system.
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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government will work to gradually lower the nation’s debt and narrow the budget gap, without resorting to raising taxes that hurt the poor, Bloomberg News reported. “We have reached the ceiling and we should gradually go down,” Anwar told Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin in an interview Monday in Singapore. Otherwise it would be irresponsible to the next generation, he said.
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Roger Ng, the former Goldman Sachs banker convicted for helping loot Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, on Friday sued the government's star witness Tim Leissner for more than $130 million, alleging fraud, Reuters reported. In a complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, Ng accused his former boss of repeatedly lying in order to steal his investments in energy drink maker Celsius Holdings and artificial intelligence company Sentient Technologies.
Malaysia’s Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz is confident the economy will expand faster than expected in the current year, supported by strong private consumption amid risks from a global slowdown, Bloomberg News reported. The economy, which expanded 8.9% in the second quarter, will likely see the momentum continue in the third quarter, he said at a Standard Chartered Bloomberg Live forum in Singapore. The central bank estimated full-year growth to be at the upper end of its 5.3%-6.3% forecast. New estimates on growth will likely be announced during the annual budget next month, Zafrul said.
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