by JayasankaranKK
What does an investment bank do after its senior executive, charged with a crime, explains it was the “culture” that made him do it?
They resort to the old “blame-the-other-bugger” trick. It never fails.
Tim Leisner, a former executive of Goldman Sachs and one of the men responsible for the billion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scam, was due to be sentenced in New York for his role in the crime but he’d co-operated with the authorities. One man was jailed while Goldman was fined US$2.9 billion (RM12.5 billion).
Now the authorities were asking for clemency for Leisner. No way, snorted Goldman.
In a letter to the judge who was to do the sentencing, Goldman’s lawyer said Leisner had engaged in “serial lies and deception” and “had never taken responsibility for his actions” in the theft.
She also attacked his criticism of the industry’s “culture.”
Methinks she doth protest too much.
Goldman had already been known, even admired, for its predatory and exploitative nature. A 2009 article in Rolling Stone described Goldman as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Indeed, the metaphor is a recurring theme whenever Goldman or Wall Street is discussed, especially after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Never taking responsibility for their actions is another theme where Malaysia’s IMDB is concerned.
To say it was big is an understatement. The US Justice Department called it the “world’s largest kleptocratic heist.”
Scores of people, including government officials, bankers and corporate figures were involved in the scandal but only one – its biggest fish, NR, – was prosecuted. All the others played a part but pleaded they were obeying orders. To a man, they bore “no responsibility” for the fraud.
The Famous One is currently serving a 12-year jail term for abuse of power. But even he, with whom the buck stopped, maintained he wasn’t responsible.
He explained the US$680 million (RM3 billion) in his personal account was a “donation” from the Saudi royal family. Apparently, they could be very generous if they liked your face.
The people of Pekan testified that the person concerned had a likeable face.
Alas, his unyielding if implausible plea was dismissed. He began serving time in August, 2023.
Meanwhile, he is also facing other charges in separate trials and could potentially face longer prison terms.
And yet, there is already a movement to reduce his sentence to “house arrest.” The poor man, it was argued, already had been humiliated by the courts and wasn’t that punishment enough? He’d served 21 months. What more did they want?
Everyone knew Putrajaya was just another oasis of outstretched palms, so what was someone in power to do?
But justice has been served. Both Goldman Sachs and the Number One Fellon have paid a price and their punishment is ongoing.
But there’s one man remaining annoyingly free. Worse, he’s retained most, if not all, of his ill-gotten gains. And going by the adage “the family that steals together stays together,” he’s managed to spirit his family out of Malaysia.
While nibbling on caviar and champagne in the safety of Macau, the vast vampire squid known as JL felt his eyes moisten at the thought of the Famous One behind bars. But he also nodded understandingly when China denied his presence.
It was all about money. It was why he’d come up with the idea in the first place.
He was safe where he was because in that country, he was guilty until proven wealthy.
The views of the writer are entirely his own
WE