Kuala Lumpur (AFP)

Malaysia has rejected a compensation offer of "less than $ 2 billion" presented by Goldman Sachs for its role in the political-financial scandal of the Malaysian sovereign fund 1MDB, confirmed Saturday a member of the Prime Minister's office.

Malaysia estimates a total of $ 7.5 billion of funds diverted from the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) fund, launched in 2009 to serve Malaysia's economic development. The siphoned money would have benefited former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his relatives to finance sumptuary spending.

The US bank Goldman Sachs, which has organized bond issues for 1MDB, is accused of assisting alleged diversions.

An aide to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad traveling with him while he is currently in Bangkok, confirmed Saturday the AFP content of an interview published Friday by the British newspaper The Financial Times.

Mahathir Mohamad, who reopened the investigation after returning to power last year, told the Financial Times that his government had rejected an offer by the US bank.

"Goldman Sachs has offered something like less than two billion dollars," he told the paper. "We are not satisfied with this amount so we continue to talk to them (...) If they respond reasonably, we could not insist on getting these 7.5 billion dollars," he added without providing details.

On Wednesday, US justice announced that the Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, suspected of being the mastermind of the fraud and prosecuted in Malaysia and the United States, had accepted a deal negotiated in the US part providing for the confiscation of 700 million euros. dollars of assets, including a hotel in Beverly Hills and a private jet. Malaysia intends to claim the surrender of these assets from the United States.

Malaysia announced in December 2018 criminal proceedings against three subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs and two of its former bankers, Tim Leissner and Ng Chong Hwa, also indicted in the United States. In August, a total of 17 new and former officials from all three of the bank's subsidiaries were charged.

The alleged fraud occurred in three bond issues, organized in 2012 and 2013 by Goldman Sachs, for a total amount of $ 6.5 billion. The bank collected $ 600 million in commissions, according to US authorities.

The US Department of Justice estimates funds plundered at $ 4.5 billion.

© 2019 AFP