StanChart, BSI lose Singapore court bid in 1MDB claims

The banks cannot intervene in the applications brought by four offshore companies as they did not meet the criteria as contingent creditors, Judge Aidan Xu wrote in a ruling on Thursday.

Standard Chartered Plc and BSI Bank Ltd. failed in their bids to be part of winding-up applications linked to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd. in Singapore’s High Court.

The banks cannot intervene in the applications brought by four offshore companies as they did not meet the criteria as contingent creditors, Judge Aidan Xu wrote in a ruling on Thursday.

The four firms are being liquidated in the British Virgin Islands as part of efforts to recover allegedly misappropriated funds from 1MDB. The entities including Brazen Sky and Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners last week failed in their appeal to sue Standard Chartered and BSI in Singapore over transactions allegedly linked to 1MDB.

Given this positive development, the liquidators intend to press on with the winding up hearings and intend to commence the relevant statutory claims against SCB Singapore and BSI Singapore, according to a statement from the liquidators on Friday.

The 1MDB scandal was one of the biggest financial frauds in history, with stolen funds estimated to have exceeded $4 billion. It prompted global investigations which led to the imprisonment of ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives and a former Malaysian prime minister. Singapore shut BSI’s local unit and fined banks including Standard Chartered for anti-money laundering breaches related to the case.