The banks cannot intervene in the applications brought by four offshore companies as they did not meet the criteria as contingent creditors, judge Aidan Xu wrote in a ruling on Thursday.

The four firms are being liquidated in the British Virgin Islands as part of efforts to recover allegedly misappropriated funds from 1MDB.

The entities, including Brazen Sky, and Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners, failed in their appeal last week to sue Standard Chartered and BSI in Singapore over transactions allegedly linked to 1MDB.

The 1MDB scandal was one of the biggest financial frauds in history, with stolen funds estimated to have exceeded US$4 billion.

It prompted global investigations which led to the imprisonment of ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives and a former prime minister.

Singapore shut BSI’s local unit and fined banks including Standard Chartered for anti-money laundering breaches related to the case.