The suit was filed in June by three British Virgin Islands entities allegedly used to funnel stolen 1MDB funds – Alsen Chance Holdings Limited, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Limited, and Brightstone Jewellery Limited.
The liquidators claimed that Standard Chartered allowed more than 100 intrabank transfers between 2009 and 2013 that “helped conceal the flow of stolen funds” and it “chose to overlook obvious red flags” in relation to the transfer of funds.
They also accused the bank of failing to comply with anti-money laundering regulations and client due diligence rules when permitting the transactions.
Examples of the transactions highlighted by the liquidators include transfers totalling US$150 million from Blackstone’s account to former prime minister Najib Razak’s personal bank account.
Other transactions cited include transfers of US$4.7 million from Blackstone, US$53.4 million from Alsen Chance, and US$77 million from Brightstone to vendors of jewellery, watches, and bags for luxury purchases on behalf of Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.
The liquidators said the transfers resulted in losses of more than US$2.7 billion and S$20 million in public funds.
“We are pleased that this application has been dismissed,” they said in a statement today.
“This dismissal enables us to continue our efforts to hold financial institutions and individuals accountable who were involved in misappropriating money from 1MDB.
“It also enables us to continue the work of recovering misappropriated assets that rightfully belong to the people of Malaysia.”
The latest development comes after a separate High Court ruling in September, which barred foreign liquidators from suing Standard Chartered and BSI Bank over past transactions tied to 1MDB, as Singapore’s cross-border insolvency framework cannot be applied to deals made before the law took effect in 2018.
In that case, liquidators for Blackstone, and Brazen Sky had sought avoidance claims – legal tools that would have allowed them to unwind suspect transactions and recover assets for creditors.