The trial involving Roger Ng and 1MDB that is happening in New York has once again revealed more details about the corruption scandal.
The jury in the trial of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng yesterday (23 March) were shown the receipt for the US$23 million (≈RM97 million) necklace with a large pink diamond created by New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz for Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
According to Bloomberg, the receipt was part of the evidence to prove that the necklace was bought with money allegedly looted from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
However, the jury was not shown the physical necklace nor a photo of it during the proceedings in a Brooklyn federal court.
The US prosecutors are attempting to demonstrate how billions of dollars diverted from three US$6.5 billion 1MDB bond transactions by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or popularly known as Jho Low, were blown on luxury items.
In addition, the jeweller’s records have shown that Low had contacted Schwartz in June 2013, asking her to create a pink diamond necklace with a heart-shaped gem at its centre for the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The records also showed that Schwartz later personally delivered the necklace to Rosmah while the latter was staying aboard a yacht with Jho Low off the coast of Monaco.
It was revealed that Rosmah had later bought an additional US$1.3 million (≈RM5.3 million) in jewellery from Schwartz in 2014.
Roger Ng, the only Goldman banker to go to trial in the scandal, is accused of conspiring with his former boss, Tim Leissner, to help Low siphon billions of dollars from a trio of bond deals the bank did for 1MDB.
Low was also charged with Ng in the fraud in abstentia. Leissner pleaded guilty, is cooperating with the US and testified against Ng at the trial.
Neither Najib nor Rosmah were charged by the US, and lawyers for the couple could not immediately be reached for comment. Najib is appealing his conviction on corruption charges in connection with SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
