Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei is already in jail for tampering with witnesses to the 1MDB corruption scandal. His troubles are far from over.
Yeo Jiawei wasn't the highest banker at Banca della Svizzera, or BSI, to be implicated in the billion-dollar graft scandal at Malaysia's 1MBD. But he is thus far the only one to be convicted without pleading, as two BSI bankers and the former branch head at Falcon Private Bank in Singapore have done.
Yeo's trial brought a slew of salacious details to light, including a lucrative kickback scheme from 1MDB to personally enrich himself as well as details about Jho Low, who U.S. prosecutors believe is the mastermind behind the intricate and opaque network of offshore entities designed to hide the money trail.
The banker was convicted in December and is currently serving 30 months.
Yeo's troubles are far from over: he is still due to stand trial for charges of money-laundering, the heftiest charges that have been levied against a banker in Singapore as a result of 1MDB.
Trial Delay
Now, Singapore's attorney general said Yeo won't face that second set of charges next month, as originally planned, «The Edge» reported from a pre-trial conference. The prosecutor didn't give a reason for the delay, or reveal when Yeo would stand trial.
Yeo has also switched legal counsel: he has been represented by Harry Elias Partnership LLP in the past, but Derek Kang of Ho and Wee LLP took over his legal counsel at the pre-trial.
The changes come the same day as Singapore slapped several lifetime bans on bankers including Yak Yew Chee, the BSI private banker to Low and supervisor of Yeo, as well as Jens Sturzenegger, former branch manager at disgraced Falcon Private Bank.
Yeo wasn't mentioned in the Monetary Authority of Singapore's statement on the bans, though it is likely that he will also be sanctioned as a result of his conduct and conviction over 1MDB.
