Sequence of events

1. 2009 Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) Malaysia (under leadership of PM Najib Razak and advisory Low Taek Jho) contact Ambank to help raise RM 5 bil (via debt instruments)
2. Ambank later sold RM 3.8 bil TIA notes to Country Groups Securities Pcl (CGSP) Thailand, RM 0.7 bil to Singapore-based company, and keep RM 0.5 bil. All of them bought the notes at discounted price (13% discount on account to ‘commemorate 30-years Islamic note’, i.e. RM 87 for RM 100 notes).
3. The three parties resold the notes at 17% profit (i.e. resold at RM 105 for RM 100 notes) on the same day!
4. There are put option (sell) agreement that Singapore ACME Times Ltd (beneficiaries are Low & his associate Eric Tan) sells the notes to CGSP.
5. CGSP instruct Ambank to pay RM113 mil to ACME for the option exercise.

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Petrosaudi (PSI) cofounded by Terak Obaid and Prince Turki b Abdullah (7th son of late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia).

1. PSI met 1MDB in Aug 2009. Sep 2009 inked a deal where PSI contribute US $1.5 bil worth of oil gas asset and 1MDB inject US$1 bil (Guardian, 28 Jul 2016).
2. Later US$0.3 bil transferred to joint venture (JV) while US$0.7 bil to Swiss account controlled by Seychelles-registered ‘shell company’ named Good Star (owned by Low).
3. Of the US$0.7 bil, US$85 mil is paid to Obaid (as ‘brokering service’ fee; US$33 mil to PSI director Patrick Mahony).
4. In Sep 2010 and May 2011, 1MDB inject US$0.83 bil to PSI. Of the sum, US$0.33 bil siphoned to Swiss account (owned by Low). In Jun 2011, US$77 mil transferred from Obaid to Prince Turki. Around that time US$ 24 mil transferred from Gold Star to Prince Turki. Within days US$ 20 mil transferred from Prince Turki to PM Najib.

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How about US$6.5 bil 1MDB that involved Goldman Sachs Group Inc (an investment bank)?

Here is what happened.

1. 2012 to 2013 Goldman raised US$6.5 bil Malaysia state-guaranteed bond issue over three bond offerings & earned US$ 0.6 bil in return, almost 10% commission (CNBC, 1 Nov 2018).
2. The transactions were done inappropriately. Two Goldman bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng Chong Hwa charged for abetting misappropriation, bribe, and other misconduct.

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Glossary

• debt instruments can be either equity, debt or hybrid of equity-debt.
• debt or debt financing is when company ‘sell’ fixed income product (via bank), e.g. bonds, bills, or notes to investors (or ‘lender’) where the principal and agreed interest are redeemable.
• equity involves ownership stake of company, earnings and voting rights (sometimes).
• option is ‘financial derivative’ that offers right, but not obligated, to buy (‘call option’) or sell (‘put option’) the underlying asset at agreed price (‘strike price’) and agreed time (‘exercise date’).
• Money laundering via movie production? Why not, esp. with padding expenditure and via other accounting fraud.