The WSJ reported that Goldman received requests for information earlier this year from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission, adding that Goldman was also providing information to the Monetary Authority of Singapore .
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Last week, Singapore said it had seized assets worth S$240 million ($179 million) as part of a money laundering probe linked to 1MDB and would take action against some of the biggest banks based in the city-state for handling transactions linked to the Malaysian fund.
The investigators also want to interview a Goldman Sachs employee over the bank’s role, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story.
The Prime Minister has questioned the publicity given to the report by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). NY state regulators have also asked the Wall Street bank for details about probes into billions of dollars it raised in a bond offering for 1MDB, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Najib has regularly denied any wrongdoing.
Goldman, which faces a separate civil lawsuit over the bond sales , has said previously that it had no visibility on what happened to the funds raised after the bond sales were conducted.
USA investigators are seeking to determine whether Goldman broke the law when it didn’t sound an alarm after some of the proceeds disappeared offshore, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Asked whether he felt the report was a result of all the media coverage given on 1MDB, the premier said it would seem so.
A Goldman Sachs’ spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment on the Singapore inquiry.
The DOJ recently filed civil lawsuits to seize assets which it claimed were acquired from funds allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB.
In 2012 and 2013, Goldman arranged and underwrote three bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for the fund – services which the bank was paid nearly $600 million, according to multiple reports.
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Investigators are focusing on whether Goldman failed to comply with the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to report suspicious transactions to regulators.
