KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Malaysia in in settlement talks with Swiss bank Julius Baer Group Ltd. over a US$112 million lawsuit filed by 1MDB’s former unit, SRC International, which alleges the bank breached its fiduciary duties in the global financial scandal.
Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, chairman of the 1MDB asset recovery task force, confirmed the development to Bloomberg News.
“Mediation is ongoing,” he was quoted as saying.
Julius Baer declined to comment on the talks.
The lawsuit, filed in a Hong Kong court in 2021, claims that SRC’s former management instructed Julius Baer to make “fraudulent payments” of about US$112.5 million to third parties.
SRC alleges the bank carried out these instructions between 2013 and 2016, despite international publicity about the 1MDB scandal and clear “red-flag” grounds for suspicion.
The case is part of a broader legal campaign by Malaysia to hold global financial institutions accountable for their roles in the 1MDB saga.
The government has seen mixed results in this effort. In August, JPMorgan Chase & Co. settled a similar case, agreeing to pay RM1.4 billion without admitting liability.
However, a separate US$1.1 billion suit against Deutsche Bank AG is set for trial in January, with the German bank expected to fight it.
To date, the Malaysian government has recovered RM29.7 billion in funds related to 1MDB and SRC International.
According to the Finance Ministry, a total of RM42.2 billion has been channelled to finance the massive debt repayments and other commitments left by the failed development fund.
