Singapore’s High Court has stopped foreign liquidators from suing Standard Chartered Plc and BSI Bank over transactions allegedly linked to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
“The outcome does leave the applicants without easy recourse against the respondents, in respect of apparently dubious transactions,” the city-state’s court said in a judgment last week.
A Standard Chartered spokesperson said the bank welcomed the court’s decision.
Liquidators began legal proceedings against the London-headquartered bank in Singapore, according to a statement from July, with the claimants alleging Standard Chartered permitted more than 100 intrabank transfers between 2009 and 2013 that helped to conceal the flow of stolen funds. Those transfers led to the loss of more than US$2.7 billion for the claimants, as well as $20 million in public funds, according to the liquidators.
The 1MDB scandal was one of the biggest financial frauds in history, with stolen funds estimated to have exceeded US$4 billion. Global investigations led to the imprisonment of ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives and a former Malaysian prime minister. Malaysian financier Jho Low is still a fugitive.
Singapore authorities had imposed a $5.2 million fine against Standard Chartered in 2016 for anti-money laundering breaches related to the case. Other banks were also fined.
See also: Liquidators seeking US$2.7 bil from Standard Chartered in lawsuit over 1MDB, FT reports
Singapore authorities closed BSI’s unit in the country in 2016 for breaches of money laundering rules and fined the firm for its failure to conduct due diligence on high-risk accounts and monitor suspicious customer transactions.
The Business Times earlier reported on the ruling.
