High Court allows 1MDB to serve notice of writ out of jurisdiction to foreign defendants

(Note: This article has been updated to correct an inaccurate portion: The High Court had allowed 1MDB to serve the note of writ out of jurisdiction, and not as previously stated. The error is regretted.)

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): The High Court on Friday has allowed applications by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for leave to serve the notice of writ out of jurisdiction against foreign defendants.

The state-owned firm’s applications were allowed by Judicial Commissioner Quay Chew Soon after hearing the submissions from 1MDB's counsel Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership (RDS) during proceedings that were conducted online.

RDS confirmed this when contacted by theedgemarkets.com.

Malaysia-based Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Ltd (first defendant) was already served the writ, in turn allowing the other foreign defendants to be brought into the Malaysian legal proceedings.

As the first defendant, Deutsche Bank, is a local party, the Rules of Court 2012 allow the application to be made against the foreign defendants although they are outside Malaysia.

The other defendants are Coutts & Co Ltd in Zurich; JP Morgan Ltd in Geneva, Switzerland; PetroSaudi International in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia; PetroSaudi Holdings Ltd in the Cayman Islands; Tarek Obaid also in Al Khobar; and Patrick Mahony in London, Britain.

Additionally, the lawyer said Quay has fixed Nov 8 for further case management.

It was reported that 1MDB and its subsidiaries had filed a plethora of suits, 22 total as of now, against various companies and individuals.

Among the 22 suits, this particular suit is filed against Deutsche Bank, Coutts & Co Ltd, JP Morgan (Switzerland) Ltd and two PetroSaudi companies along with Tarek and Mahony for alleged negligence, breach of contract, conspiracy to defraud the company and dishonest assistance to defraud 1MDB in respect of US$1.83 billion wrongfully transferred out of the fund.

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15 October 2021