Johari To Continue Leading 1mdb Task Force

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Plantation and commodities minister Johari Ghani said the task force had already done the necessary work and only needed to monitor the progress of ongoing matters.PETALING JAYA: Johari Ghani, who was yesterday appointed as the plantation and commodities minister, will continue leading the government’s 1MDB task force while helming the ministry.
“At this moment, I am still (leading the task force),” he told reporters after clocking in for his first day at the ministry.
Johari, who is also Titiwangsa MP and an Umno vice-president, was appointed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in March to lead the task force meant to “resolve matters” involving the 1MDB scandal.
Johari said the task force had already done the necessary work and only needed to monitor the progress of ongoing matters for now.
The minister cited the arbitration proceedings filed by Goldman Sachs over a disagreement on a 1MDB settlement entered three years ago.
In October, Goldman Sachs commenced arbitration proceedings in a UK court over the settlement, accusing Malaysia of “violating its obligations to appropriately credit assets against the guarantee provided by Goldman Sachs” and for failing in its obligation to recover “other assets”.
It also claimed the bank’s executives “had grown increasingly frustrated” with the government’s demands for the agreement to be reworked so that “more onerous penalties” would be imposed.
Johari denounced this as the investment bank’s “attempt to divert attention away” from the bank’s obligation to make an interim payment of US$250 million to Putrajaya under the settlement agreement.
He said the agreement, signed on Aug 18, 2020, required Goldman Sachs to make payment in two parts – a cash payment of US$2.5 billion paid within 10 days of the signing of the agreement, and an asset recovery guarantee of US$1.4 billion within five years.
In August, Anwar was reported as telling CNBC in an interview that the government was considering its own suit against Goldman Sachs over the matter. - FMT

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