Malaysia’s 1MDB, ex-unit seek recovery of $23 bln in assets
Reuters, 10 May 2021
Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and a former unit have filed 22 civil suits seeking to recover more than $23 billion in assets from entities and people allegedly involved in defrauding them, the finance ministry said on Monday.
The ministry, in a statement on the suits, did not identify any of the individuals or entities being sued but said two foreign financial institutions were among them. The Edge business daily, citing court documents that it said it had seen, reported that JP Morgan (JPM.N) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) were among those being sued.
Malaysian officials did not immediately confirm the names.
A Deutsche Bank spokesperson said: “We have not been served any papers, and we are not aware of any basis for a legitimate claim against Deutsche Bank.”
JP Morgan declined to comment.
Malaysian and U.S. investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, in a wide-ranging scandal that has implicated high-level officials, banks and financial institutions around the world. Malaysian authorities have previously said there were billions of dollars more that were unaccounted for.
1MDB has filed six suits against 25 people and nine entities, including two foreign financial institutions, for breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy, negligence, and other wrongdoing, the finance ministry said in its statement.
