Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon apologized to the Malaysian people for the role of one of his former bankers in the 1MDB scandal.

"It's very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals, including the highest members of the prior government," Solomon said at the start of a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

"Tim Leissner, who was a partner at our firm, by his own admission was one of those people," Solomon said. "For Leissner's role in that fraud, we apologize to the Malaysian people."

Solomon went on to reiterate several points that the bank has previously made: In its internal review, Goldman found that Leissner and Malaysian officials gave assurances that no intermediaries were involved — which ended up being false, as disgraced financier Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, has since been identified as a mastermind of the 1MDB fraud. The investment fund's outside auditors also provided clean opinions on the fund, Solomon said.

"This has been a difficult time, but I'm proud about how our firm has remained focused on our clients," Solomon said. "Please appreciate that I've tried to be as forthcoming as possible in my comments on 1MDB. I know many of you will have additional questions, but as I'm sure you can understand, I can't say much more."