Welcome back. This is Emlix's weekly podcast covering the top regulatory stories around the globe.

My name is James Panicki. I'm Emlex's Asia Pacific Senior Editor, and it's great to be with you again.

Now, as corruption and embezzlement scandals go, the 1MDB affair was breathtaking in both its

scale and its audacity. One Malaysia Development Bearhard was a Malaysian government-run

strategic development company, and in 2015, then Prime Minister

Najib Razak was accused of channeling funds from one MDB into personal bank accounts. A total of

$4.5 billion US dollars went missing. Most of it is still unaccounted for.

Najib Razak has since been found guilty of seven charges relating to the affair and a businessman

at the centre of the scandal is still on the run. But how could this happen? How could so much

money be funneled into foreign bank accounts without setting off alarm bells? Those questions have been

central to a US prosecution of Commercial

Bank Goldman Sachs under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And over the past week, that prosecution

culminated in the imposition of a $2.9 billion US fine on the bank. The bulk of that penalty

will remain in the US, but some of it will be spread across

enforcement agencies in the UK and in Asia. The Goldman Sachs fallout is a global regulatory story,

and our reporters have been covering it with their usual panache. We'll cross to London and Hong Kong

in just a moment, but let's kick off the conversation

with Richard Vanderford and MNX journalist covering courts in New York.

Okay, Richard, now give me an overview of the Goldman Sachs 1MDB settlement.

What do we need to know?

The first thing that probably would catch anyone's eye is the top line figure.

It's a $2.9 billion resolution.

...