YEO Jiawei has been accused of telling a fellow BSI banker and others not to cooperate with the Commercial Affairs Department, which was probing 1MDB-related transactions for money laundering.

Yeo’s boss at BSI, Kevin Swampillai, told the Singapore court hearing charges against Yeo for tampering with witnesses that the former told him: “You cannot go straight. You have to play poker with CAD.”

The 34 year-old, described by prosecutors as the brain behind the masking and layering of pass-through transactions used to launder billions of dollars from 1MDB, has applied the same “play poker” strategy since he took to the stand to defend himself.

Each time he is asked by prosecutors about certain events, Yeo would will deny them or ignore the questions and instead respond with replies that have nothing to do with the questions.

Here are three instances of Yeo playing poker with prosecutors in court:

1. Flight on Jho Low’s private jet from Changi to Hong Kong on Sept 2, 2014.

Yeo was asked what he did on arrival in Hong Kong after landing there on Sept 3 at around 4am. He replied that it took a while to clear customs and immigration at the private jet terminal, after which he took a taxi to the main terminal to take a late afternoon commercial flight back to Singapore. When asked how long he was at the main terminal, Yeo replied a few hours. Asked whether he freshened up, he said as he was flying business class, he was able to freshen up at the lounge.

When DPP Tan Kiat Pheng said that there were nine hours between the time he landed and the 1.30pm flight he took back to Singapore and asked what he did during the time, Yeo repeated that it took a while to clear customs and immigration and that the journey from the private jet terminal to the main terminal took some time.

Tan asked: “You didn’t do anything else?” Yeo replied: “No”

The DPP reminded Yeo a few times that he was under oath and also warned, “I would not put it to you if I did not have the evidence. I put it to you that you were at Jho Low’s house.”

Yeo finally cracked and admitted that he, Yak Yew Chee, Jho Low and others had gone to Jho Low’s apartment to freshen up before he (Yeo) took a taxi to catch his flight back to Singapore.

DPP Tan then said: “You lied to the court. You were trying to downplay your relationship with Jho Low.”

2. Jho Low’s girlfriend Chuan Teik Ying.

Yeo was asked if the name Chuan Teik Ying was familiar to him and he said no.

When DPP Tan pressed him further by saying surely he would know as this person was on the same flight in Jho Low’s private jet from Singapore to Hong Kong, Yeo persisted in saying he did not know who this person was.

After a few more exchanges, Yeo finally said, “She could be Mr Low’s girlfriend but I am not familiar with her full name as I remember her only as Jessica or something like that”.

3. Flight in Jho Low’private jet from Shanghai to Hong Kong in June, 2015.

When asked if he remembered the trip, Yeo kept saying over and over again that he had no collection. When DPP Tan asked how could he not remember as it was just last year, Yeo replied again he had no memory of it.

When DPP Tan produced the flight manifest which included his name, Yeo said: “If it states that I was on that flight, then I must have been on the flight.”

The manifest showed that apart from Jho Low and Yeo, the others were Yak Yew Chee, 1MDB’s legal counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, Low’s girlfriend Chuan Teik Ying, Kee Kok Thiam, and a Thai national, Laogumnerd Phengphian, believed to be a relative of Jho Low.

Kee was a director of Jho Low’s private company The Wynton Private Equity Group (M) Sdn Bhd. Phengpian is said to be with Thai IT company Songkhla Finishing Co.

Yeo was asked what he did in Shanghai and he replied that he was there to meet a senior executive of a company that belonged to the Abu Dhabi government that wanted to pursue certain investments and that it was arranged by Jho Low and Yak Yew Chee.

He named the company as Mubadala but kept insisting he could not remember the name of the person, to which DPP Tan said: “You mean to say that you cannot remember the name of a person who could give you a lot of business and earn lots of fees for yourself?”

It was only when DPP Tan named the person as Ali Eid AlMheiri (executive director, Mubadala Real Estate & Infrastructure) that Yeo confirmed.

“You only tell the truth after being confronted with evidence,” a frustrated DPP Tan would utter several times.

The “poker game” at the Singapore state court continues on Nov 22.

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