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.
Representatives of the liquidators didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.
Reuters
