Ex-BSI banker Yeo a chronic liar, deflected blame for his actions, say prosecutors
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei had a penchant for lies, and would only come clean in the face of evidence such as call records and testimonies from his acquaintances, prosecutors charged on the 10th day of his trial for witness tampering on Wednesday (Nov 17).
The 33-year-old Yeo had repeatedly denied owning a second phone line to Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) officers.
He only admitted the truth after his former supervisor Kevin Swampillai and business partner Samuel Goh testified in a district court that Yeo had suggested they acquired spare phones and lines to mask their communications.
After this was brought up in court, Yeo, who is alleged to have played a key role in a massive money-laundering investigation tied to the scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), apologised for lying to the CAD.
However, Yeo claimed that he was confused and frightened after being held in remand without access to his lawyer then.
He added that the idea of a second phone line originated from Mr Swampillai and Mr Goh in October 2015 and March 2016, respectively.
However, call records submitted by the prosecution showed that Yeo had been the first among the trio to activate his second phone line in February 2015 — prompting Yeo to say that the stranger from whom he had bought the phone could have done so then.
“In October 2015, you knew that Mr Swampillai had an interview with CAD. You therefore instigated him to get a secondary line so that both of you would communicate via a secondary line. Mr Goh had yet to feature in CAD investigations and you continued to contact him on his primary contact number,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Kiat Pheng.
It was only after Yeo crossed paths with Mr Goh at the CAD premises in March this year that he instructed the latter to use another phone, DPP Tan added.
Yeo faces four charges of perverting the course of justice by interfering with witnesses, and his defence so far has been to push the blame to Mr Swampillai.
During yesterday’s hearing, it emerged that Yeo had also told the CAD that a meeting he allegedly orchestrated at the Swiss Club on March 27 did not result in anything that he “could not disclose”.
But the prosecution’s case is that Yeo told Mr Swampillai and Mr Goh during that meeting to feed investigators a cover story on the “secret profits” that Yeo and Mr Swampillai were siphoning from BSI, a Swiss private bank.
Yeo, however, insisted that the meeting and the cover story were suggested by his former supervisor.
Pressed on his false statement to CAD, Yeo said: “At that time, I did not want to bring trouble to my boss.”
DPP Tan, noting that he was always “pushing everything to Mr Swampillai” during the trial, said Yeo had no reason to obey his ex-supervisor after leaving the bank in July 2014.
Yeo replied that he continued to see Mr Swampillai as a mentor.
“I’ll take his advice because after becoming an independent consultant (following his departure from the bank), I still had to work with banks. He’s in the management committee (at BSI) and he’s very experienced,” Yeo said.
DPP Tan also quizzed Yeo on a trip he had made from Singapore to Hong Kong on a private jet owned by Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, who has also been linked to the 1MDB investigations.
Yeo maintained that during that trip, he had landed in Hong Kong in the early morning and booked a commercial flight home on the same afternoon — without heading anywhere else in the hours between.
However, DPP Tan argued that Yeo had, in fact, stayed over at Mr Low’s house in Hong Kong before flying home, and was hiding this fact to downplay his relationship with the businessman.
DPP Tan also pointed out that Yeo was always the common denominator between Mr Swampillai and Mr Goh.
“There’s no suggestion of a conspiracy by all these witnesses ... (They) were not out to fix you,” DPP Tan said.
Yeo replied: “Maybe they want to save their own skin ... when I’m already arrested and in remand now for almost seven months. Unfortunately, they did that.”
The trial continues on Thursday.
