SINGAPORE (Nov 11): Ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei on Friday refuted claims that he worked for 1MDB mastermind Low Taek Jho, calling it a “misunderstanding” and “assumption” on the part of Kevin Swampillai, his former boss at BSI.

Taking the stand for the second time in his witness-tampering trial, Yeo said he was actually in negotiations to join rival bank UBS as a relationship manager.

"If I am joining Jho Low, who is a billionaire, will I just ask for S$50,000 more? I can’t tell him (Swampillai) because I was going to join a rival bank. It was a misunderstanding,” Yeo said. 

To support his claim, the court was presented with an offer letter from UBS.

The document stated that Yeo would get a base salary of S$230,000 a year plus incentive payment of S$260,000, which adds up to nearly S$500,000 – the amount that Swampillai had earlier told the court that Low was paying Yeo.

The court was also presented with Yeo's 2015 notice of assessment, which stated his salary at BSI as S$441,000.

“I have never mentioned to him that I am working for Jho Low, because that’s simply not true," Yeo said.

Yeo in court this morning also refuted the testimony of another prosecution witness, Samuel Goh Sze-Wei.

It was revealed in court on Monday that Goh had received some US$4 million in fees for his role as an intermediary. Goh maintained that he was merely acting on Yeo’s instructions.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Yeo said. "If I really want someone to be a robot, I can easily find a nominee director, which [would] cost me S$1,000 or S$2,000 a year.”

“I was in a partnership with Samuel Goh, and he earned millions of dollars,” Yeo added.

Yeo, 33, is facing four charges of tampering with witnesses. He was arrested on March 17 in connection with money laundering activities surrounding Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).