Given the severity of the other offences he is accused of, ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei’s acts of tampering with witnesses to attempt to conceal his alleged wrongdoing warrant a deterrent sentence, said a district judge on Thursday (Dec 22) as he sentenced the 34-year-old to 2½ years’ jail — the heaviest out of the three former employees of the Swiss private bank to be dealt with here.

Yeo was convicted on Wednesday of four counts of communicating with, and meeting, witnesses central to the Commercial Affairs Department’s (CAD) money-laundering investigations linked to the scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.

Separately, he faces seven other charges of cheating, forgery and money laundering, which will be dealt with in April next year. It is believed that more charges may be brought against him, as investigations are ongoing.

Yeo is the third former BSI bank employee to be dealt with in the courts here. Former BSI banker Yak Yew Chee was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail and a S$24,000 fine for forgery and failing to disclose information on suspicious transactions, while Yvonne Seah was sentenced to two weeks’ jail and fined S$10,000 for a similar set of offences.

Urging the court on Thursday to impose a three-year jail term for Yeo’s witness-tampering offences, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng reiterated that the accused had tried to stymie the CAD’s investigations into the most complex, sophisticated and largest money-laundering case involving billions of US dollars.

Over a 12-day trial last month, the court was told that Yeo amassed nearly S$24 million in just 15 months after leaving the Swiss private bank to become an independent consultant, serving clients that included Malaysian tycoon Low Taek Jho, who, in turn, has been linked to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Yeo accumulated his wealth by allegedly carrying out illegal transactions through Amicorp Group as well as shell companies Bridgerock Investment Inc and GTB Investment Ltd.

Yeo was first interviewed by the CAD in October last year, and was arrested on March 17 this year. After he was released on bail the following day, he contacted and met key witnesses to hide incriminatory evidence of his alleged crimes.

Sometime in March, Yeo met his associate Samuel Goh Sze-Wei and BSI supervisor Kevin Swampillai — both of whom testified for the prosecution during Yeo’s trial — at the Swiss Club and asked them to lie to the police that the monies Goh had transferred to Bridgerock Investment and GTB Investment were his investments.

In that same month, Yeo told Amicorp Group relationship manager Jose Renato Carvalho Pinto to avoid travelling to Singapore to evade questioning from the CAD. He also told him to dispose of his laptop containing evidence of Yeo’s alleged illegal dealings with the firm.

In addition, Yeo got Mr Pinto to tell Mr Aloysius Mun, an Amicorp Group employee, to plead ignorance if the CAD asked about Yeo’s dealings with the company.

On Thursday, DPP Tan said the alleged offences Yeo tried to conceal were serious ones. For one, his alleged offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act carry a maximum punishment of 10 years’ jail and a S$500,000 fine. He also tried to disrupt investigations — said to be unparalleled in scale and quantum — by trying to get Mr Pinto and Mr Mun to evade questioning by the CAD.

The DPP also noted that, within days of being released on bail, Yeo had contacted three different witnesses, disregarding the bail condition to not interfere with witnesses involved in the case.

In mitigation, Yeo’s lawyer Philip Fong argued that the alleged offences his client faces have not been proved. Yeo should not be punished before he is convicted of this set of charges, said Mr Fong, who sought a four-month jail term for his client.

Delivering his verdict on Thursday, District Judge Ng Peng Hong said he took into account Yeo’s efforts to frustrate the CAD’s investigations when determining his sentence.

The judge also agreed with the prosecution that there was planning and premeditation involved on Yeo’s part, such as how he had used a secondary phone line and Telegram to avoid detection.

Yeo’s sentence has been backdated to his date of remand on April 16.

His lawyer told reporters that Yeo is seriously considering whether to appeal against his conviction and sentence. He has two weeks to decide.

He could have been jailed up to 3.5 years and fined for each charge of attempting to intentionally pervert the course of justice by tampering with witnesses.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by SIAU MING EN

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