Friday 29 Mar 2024
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SINGAPORE (Dec 22): Ex-BSI wealth planner Yeo Jiawei has been sentenced to a total of 30 months’ jail after he was convicted on Wednesday on all four charges of witness tampering.

Prosecutors said Yeo had obstructed the course of justice by tampering with witnesses in what has been described as the largest and most complex money-laundering case seen so far.

The sentence has been backdated to Apr 16, 2016, when Yeo was held in remand.

For each count of witness tampering, Yeo could have been jailed for up to a maximum of seven years.

In meting out his sentence on Thursday afternoon, district judge Ng Peng Hong said that his main consideration was to send a signal of deterrence.

In addition, he also took into account how Yeo was shown to have frustrated investigations into illegal money flows from account, individuals and entities linked to Malaysia’s scandal-hit sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Yeo, 34, first knew Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB fund flows when he was still at BSI. Yeo then left the bank to work for Low, popularly known as Jho Low.

Yeo’s lawyer, Philip Fong of Harry Elias Partnership, told reporters that Yeo is “seriously considering” an appeal against both the conviction, and the sentence. Yeo has two weeks to make this decision.

Judge Ng also noted how Yeo had taken serious moves to conceal his actions, through the use of offshore entities. He also noted that Yeo had used extraordinary measures like secondary phone lines and message apps – specifically, Telegram – with better privacy features.

Last but not least, Yeo was found to have committed the offences while out on police bail. As part of the conditions of the bail, Yeo was not to contact other individuals whom CAD is investigating.

These individuals include Kevin Swampillai, Yeo’s ex-boss at BSI, as well as Samuel Goh Sze-Wei, Yeo’s friend whom he tapped to function as an intermediary for the fund flows.

Yeo was also found guilty of tampering with witnesses by asking a relationship manager with Amicorp, Jose Renato Carvalho Pinto, to destroy his laptop containing transaction records, and to also stay away from Singapore.

Pinto had helped to provide a range of fund transfers and administrative services for entities that were shown to have siphoned money from 1MDB.

One such entity was Aabar Investments PJS Limited, which seemingly looked like a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Co. The genuine entity is called Aabar Investments PJS.

The prosecution team, which consists of deputy public prosecutors Tan Kiat Pheng, Natheniel Khng and Vincent Ong, asked for a deterrent sentence of three years.

DPP Tan told the court on Thursday that investigation into this case covered hundreds of thousands of transactions with amounts of up to billions of US dollars.

The scale and sensitivity of CAD’s investigations is unprecedented, noted Tan.

“However, instead of cooperating with CAD in its investigations, the accused had sought to pervert the course of justice by engaging in two separate and distinct courses of conduct to stymie CAD’s efforts,” said Tan.

Yeo, according to the prosecution, was motivated to frustrate CAD’s investigations as he was benefiting personally. Specifically, Yeo accumulated nearly S$24 million in assets in the 15 months he worked for Low after he left BSI in June 2015.

“These efforts of the accused not only sought to conceal information on illicit transactions from which he personally benefited, but sought to frustrate CAD’s investigations into the principals that the accused was associated with, which was an important part of CAD’s wider investigations,” he added.

Tan pointed out that Yeo occupied a “central position” in the relationships of individuals and entities involved.

“As the linkman and orchestrator of many of the dealings between his principals and service providers, he was in a unique position to shed light on the relationships and the transactions he was concerned with,” said Tan.

“However, instead of assisting the CAD in its investigations, the accused used his position to try to frustrate them by endeavouring to eliminate testimony on key areas,” he added.

Yeo’s lawyer Fong argued in court on Thursday that no one has been convicted for the money laundering activities that Yeo was supposedly helping to cover up.

This is despite the fact that Swampillai had admitted he was the one who raised the idea of setting up their own entities outside the bank so that he and Yeo could profit personally.

“The fact remains that these offices have not been proven,” said Fong, who added that Yeo’s conviction for these four charges of tampering with witnesses may well prejudice the scheduled trial for money laundering in April 2017.

“These are but allegations not proven,” said Fong, who reminded the court that it was the prosecution who asked to go ahead with the first four charges while standing down the seven money laundering charges.

Fong also pointed out that his client had not denied association with Low, his close associate Eric Tan Kim Loong as well as Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, who was CEO of Aabar.

In response, DPP Tan reminded the court that Yeo has been called out for lying in court. For example, Yeo had denied staying at Low’s residence in Hong Kong. Yeo eventually admitted to this when prosecutors produced evidence that he did.

“What he did in court has shown what kind of person he is,” said Tan.

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