The two-year prison sentence handed to former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner for his role in the 1MDB scandal has sparked widespread criticism, with many deeming it disproportionate to the scale of the crime.
Malaysian Bar president Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab called the sentence inadequate and warned it could undermine justice and deterrence.
He said that while the Bar respects the independence of the US judiciary and recognises the court’s description of Leissner’s conduct as “brazen and audacious”, many Malaysians reasonably view the sentence as insufficient given the seriousness of the offence.
“An apology cannot undo the damage. Justice in cases of this magnitude must reflect not only accountability but also deterrence. Lenient outcomes risk eroding public confidence and failing to prevent future abuses of financial systems,” he said yesterday.
Leissner, formerly Goldman Sachs’ South-East Asia chairman, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to participating in a money laundering scheme. He later cooperated with US prosecutors and served as a key witness in the conviction of his former colleague Roger Ng.
Ng, who was Goldman’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia, was convicted in Brooklyn and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was returned to Malaysia in 2023 to assist with investigations. Ng has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and breach anti-bribery laws.
Among those expressing disappointment was US-based journalist Tom Wright, co-author of Billion Dollar Whale, a book on the 1MDB saga. In a post on X, Wright said the sentence “is no justice” and criticised the idea that Leissner’s cooperation justified such leniency. “That is punching down,” he wrote.
In his newsletter Whale Hunting, Wright questioned whether justice had been served, particularly in light of Goldman Sachs’ role in raising US$6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB, the sovereign wealth fund established by former prime minister Najib Razak with the help of fugitive financier Jho Low. “Not by a long shot,” he remarked.
Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, who chairs Malaysia’s 1MDB asset recovery task force, also condemned the sentence as “too short”. Speaking to Reuters, he said: “Considering he is one of the masterminds facilitating the 1MDB scandal, he should be given the maximum jail sentence.”
Cynthia Gabriel, founding director of the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), echoed these views, calling the sentence “a light slap on the wrist” that failed to reflect the seriousness of the financial crimes involved.
Gabriel stressed that the massive scale of theft and laundering, particularly involving a major financial institution like Goldman Sachs, must not be taken lightly.
The 1MDB scandal, involving billions siphoned from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, triggered investigations in multiple jurisdictions and remains one of the most significant global financial scandals to date.