Tim Leissner was supposed to be the US government’s star witness in the bribery case against Roger Ng, the only Goldman Sachs banker to go to trial in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.Instead, a misstep over crucial evidence about Leissner could end up tanking the case, after the US disclosed that it failed to turn over to the defence more than 15,500 documents related to him.On Wednesday the judge said she would pause the trial to give the defence time to review the newly disclosed…
As Dutch say sorry for atrocities in postcolonial Indonesia, time for Jakarta to address its own dark past of racial violence, genocide?
A recently published study in the Netherlands that revealed the Dutch’s systematic use of extreme violence in Indonesia during the revolutionary war in the 1940s has prompted calls for the country to address its own dark past, including genocide committed against Indonesian residents who were suspected communists and leftists, or from the ethnic Chinese community, in the 1960s.A team of 115 researchers in the Netherlands and Indonesia last week published the findings of their six-year study,…
1MDB trial: Ex-Goldman chief met Najib Razak to get his children jobs, jury told
The star witness in the bribery trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng testified that ex-Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein in 2009 met former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak ahead of US$6.5 billion in bond deals for the country’s wealth fund – and that the meeting came with an agenda.In return for the lucrative business, Goldman was to get Najib’s three children jobs at the bank, former Southeast Asia chairman Tim Leissner told the jury on Tuesday about the 1MDB scheme.Leissner, 52, was…
Aukus: France drops Australia as key Indo-Pacific partner after sub snub
France removed Australia from its list of key partners in the Indo-Pacific region as tensions between the two countries linger five months after the Aukus submarine debacle.A decision by the government in Canberra to abandon a multibillion-dollar submarine contract with France in favour of American technology and a new security pact with the United States and Britain was viewed by President Emmanuel Macron as a betrayal, and sparked a diplomatic row.The shift was announced in September without …
Tricky issues for employers as England ends Covid restrictions
UK employers will have to carefully balance workplace health and safety risks, particularly for vulnerable staff, as the country’s approach to managing Covid-19 changes, employment law and workplace health and safety experts have warned.
Russian sanctions necessitate fresh due diligence and screening by businesses
Businesses need to stiffen their efforts to ensure that who they are transacting with – including intermediary financial institutions through which funds may pass – are not subject to newly imposed sanctions on Russia, experts have said.
Asian Development Bank sets up Indonesian green infrastructure fund
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$150 million loan for a facility to encourage public and private funds to invest in green, financially sustainable infrastructure projects in Indonesia.
Australia aircraft had ‘right’ to watch China navy vessel in its waters, Morrison says
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said an Australian surveillance aircraft was doing its job when it was “put under threat” with a laser from a Chinese navy ship, rejecting Beijing’s assertion the plane came too close.The P-8A Poseidon, a maritime patrol aircraft, detected a laser emanating from a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel last Thursday, and Australia released photographs of two Chinese vessels sailing close to its north coast.“Our surveillance planes have every right…
EU sanctions 22 Myanmar officials and gas company over coup violence
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on several top officials in Myanmar and on a lucrative state-owned oil and gas company that has helped fund the that overthrew the country’s elected government a year ago.The bloc imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 22 people and slapped restrictive measures on four entities, including state-owned and private companies.Among those sanctioned was the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is a joint venture partner in all…
AI developers to learn UK position on text and data mining rights
The UK government is currently deliberating over the extent to which an important exception to copyright laws should be extended, if at all, to support business in developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems.