SINGAPORE (May 27): Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei, already in remand for six weeks, was denied bail by Supreme Court Justice Chan Seng Onn in court earlier today, over-ruling Thursday’s decision by State Court’s Christopher Goh to grant him bail of S$600,000.

Chan was satisfied that Yeo’s past conduct was deemed severe enough to subvert the administration of justice.

Yeo, who was held in the Cantonment Police Station, will now be moved to Changi Prison and held in custody pending trial for the initial two of the nine charges that the 33-year-old is now facing. The two charges alleged that Yeo tampered with witnesses.

“Tampering into on-going investigations is far more dangerous as it is much harder to detect and it is difficult for investigators to discern if any subsequent statements were tampered with, or any evidence hidden or destroyed,” said second solicitor general Kwek Mean Luck.

He added that investigations are on-going and further charges might be pressed. He described Yeo’s case, linked to the widening 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) saga, as the biggest money laundering case thus far in Singapore.

Yeo, who appeared in court on Friday in a purple jumpsuit with the word “Prisoner” behind his back, is alleged to have profited from at least US$18 million (S$24.7 mllion) in his role in the shuffling of money.

Senior Counsel Harry Elias, representing Yeo, again said that the defence team wasn’t given sufficient access to his client. Over the past weeks of remand, they only had a total of three hours over three occasions with Yeo, which, he said, was not enough to get sufficient details in the proper context.

“Let him free, let him see his lawyers, let us prepare for his trial,” said Elias.

In an affidavit, Superintendent Richard Wong, who was one of the investigating officers at the Commercial Affairs Department, revealed more details of how Yeo’s active tampering of witnesses came to light.

In one instance, according to Kevin Swampillai, Yeo’s former colleague at BSI, Yeo asked him to “stick to the story” and that it was “time to play poker with the CAD.”

Yeo was also found to have taken pains to cover his communications and tracks, using for example, a pre-paid mobile line that wasn’t registered under his name. Yeo called that his “Bangla line” – a reference to the fact that foreign workers tend to use pre-paid mobile lines.

Under Singapore’s regulations, each person is only allowed to register up to three pre-paid mobile lines as part of enhanced security measures.

Singapore authorities are said to have widened their investigations to more yet to be named individuals and banks. Financial regulator MAS declined to comment if it is investigating the clients of the banks involved.