KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — The liquidators of five companies said to have been used to channel 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds out have filed a petition under Chapter 15 under the US bankruptcy code, as part of efforts to recover assets, a report said.

Business news outlet Bloomberg said the liquidators filed the February 15 petition at the Southern District of Florida court in the US, naming the five British Virgin Islands (BVI)-registered companies as 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, Aabar International Investments PJS Ltd, Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd and Platinum Global Luxury Services Ltd.

Bloomberg cited the liquidators as saying that these companies are subject to proceedings in the BVI and that the petition in the US was filed with the aim of getting information on misappropriation of money.

According to Bloomberg, the US petition had said the five companies "acted as conduit for funds" from the Malaysia-owned 1MDB to individuals and other entities.

According to the US courts' website, Chapter 15 in the US bankruptcy code is aimed at promoting cooperation and communication between US courts and US parties of interest with foreign courts and foreign parties of interest in cross-border cases. A Chapter 15 case is also stated to be generally ancillary or supplementing a primary proceeding in another country (typically the debtor's home country).

Malaysia's former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is currently on trial in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur over the misappropriation of RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds.

During Najib's ongoing 1MDB trial, prosecution witnesses have laid out the money trail of how funds originating from 1MDB and 1MDB subsidiaries flowed through various entities' bank accounts before allegedly reaching the former finance minister's private bank accounts in four phases of the 1MDB scheme.

For example, under the second phase, money raised by 1MDB subsidiaries flowed through the BVI-registered Aabar and other entities before US$30 million was sent to Najib's account in 2012.

Under the fourth phase, funds allegedly flowed from 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd and passed through several bank accounts including Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho's associate Eric Tan Kim Loong's Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd before a sum of £750,000 (equivalent to over RM4 million) was sent in 2014 to Najib's account, based on the money trail produced during the trial.

Najib's lawyers have sought to argue that he had believed the funds entering his personal bank accounts to be donations from Saudi Arabia, and the trial remains ongoing with 50 prosecution witnesses called so far.