Singapore court allows $2.7 billion lawsuit against Standard Chartered over 1MDB
A Singapore court has cleared the way for a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Standard Chartered Bank over its alleged role in the 1MDB fraud, liquidators said Monday.
The Singapore High Court dismissed the bank’s attempt to strike out the case, a move the liquidators called a “significant legal victory” that allows efforts to recover misappropriated funds to continue, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in June, alleges that Standard Chartered enabled fraudulent acts that caused over $2.7 billion in losses more than a decade ago. Liquidators claim the bank facilitated over 100 intrabank transfers between 2009 and 2013, helping conceal stolen funds, including transfers to the personal account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is currently serving a six-year prison term for graft linked to 1MDB.
"We are pleased that this application has been dismissed," the liquidators said, adding that the ruling allows them to continue recovering assets that belong to the people of Malaysia.
Standard Chartered, however, disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal. The bank said the claims are “without merit” and were brought by shell companies that misappropriated 1MDB funds.
"We reported the transaction activities of these companies before we shut their accounts in early 2013. We take our responsibility to fight financial crime extremely seriously," a bank spokesperson said.
The 1MDB scandal, which involved a complex global fraud spanning multiple countries, has led to investigations in at least six nations, including Singapore and Switzerland, implicating high-ranking officials and bankers worldwide. Malaysia reported recovering 29 billion ringgit ($7.01 billion) in 1MDB assets between 2019 and February 2024.
In 2016, Singapore’s central bank fined Standard Chartered S$5.2 million for money laundering breaches related to the scandal.
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