Singapore court blocks foreign liquidator bid to sue Standard Chartered, BSI Bank over 1MDB links

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 US$2.7 billion (HK$21 billion) in financial losses more than 10 years ago.

US and Malaysian investigators say about US$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