Malaysia’s defunct state fund 1MDB is reportedly starting legal challenges against several financial institutions to recover billions in losses experienced in the corruption scandal.
The country’s finance minister said that 1MDB and a former unit filed 22 suits looking to recover over $23bn in assets both from individuals and companied involved in defrauding the state fund and its former subsidiary.
The fund is seeking $1.1bn (£800m, €911m) from Deutsche Bank (Malaysia), $1.03bn from a Swiss-based Coutts unit, and $800m from JP Morgan (Switzerland), as well as interest payments from all three, according to newswire Reuters.
The lawsuit’s claims allege “negligence, breach of contract, conspiracy to defraud/injure, and/or dishonest assistance”.
But people and entities at the centre of the lawsuits were not identified. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Coutts were named as being among the targets of the lawsuit by Malaysian newspaper The Edge.
The claims were filed at a Kuala Lumpur court on 7 May 2021.
Response
International Adviser reached out to all three companies, however JP Morgan and Coutts declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank said: “We do not believe there is any legitimate basis for nor merit to any claims by 1MDB and will be reviewing the matter accordingly.
“Deutsche Bank has cooperated fully with all regulatory and law enforcement agencies that have made inquiries relating to 1MDB. As stated in asset forfeiture complaints filed by the US Department of Justice, 1MDB made ‘material misrepresentations and omissions to Deutsche Bank officials’ in connection with 1MDB’s transactions with the bank.”
The lawsuit against Coutts, however, seems to relate to Coutts & Co Limited, a separate Swiss legal entity which was wound down after an asset sale in 2016.
