SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s High Court has dismissed a bid by foreign liquidators to sue Standard Chartered Bank and BSI Bank in Singapore over transactions alleged to be linked to the scandal-hit Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, according to a judgment on Wednesday.
The liquidators had alleged that Standard Chartered enabled fraud leading to more than $2.7 billion in financial losses more than 10 years ago.
U.S. and Malaysian investigators say about $4.5 billion was stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund between 2009 and 2014 in a complex, globe-spanning scheme.
Singapore High Court judge Aidan Xu said the liquidators’ suit should be dismissed as Singapore’s cross-border insolvency framework could not be applied to the case, given that the alleged transactions took place before the law took effect in 2018.
The liquidators appointed to recover 1MDB funds said they were exploring workarounds, including a possible appeal against the court’s decision.
“We remain undeterred in our mission to seek recovery from those who are responsible (or) facilitated the fraud to maximise recoveries for Malaysia,” Angela Barkhouse, one of the liquidators, said in a statement to Reuters.
(Reporting by Jun Yuan Yong; Writing by Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by David Stanway)
