SINGAPORE: The second of two private bankers who managed Malaysian tycoon Low Taek Jho’s accounts at BSI Bank in Singapore was found guilty on Friday (Dec 16) of forgery and for failing to report a series of suspicious transactions in which tens of millions were moved in and out of multiple accounts linked to Mr Low.
Former BSI director Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, 45, has been convicted of three charges: One for not reporting Mr Low’s suspicious transactions and two for forging reference letters for him behind the bank’s back. She has been sentenced to two weeks’ jail and fined S$10,000.
Mr Low is a person of interest in Singapore’s money laundering probe into Malaysia’s scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
In October 2012, US$790.35 million was transferred out of 1MDB subsidiary 1MDB Energy (Langat). Two weeks later, US$110 million found its way into the Swiss bank account of Selune, one of Mr Low’s companies.
Prosecutors say the money had been moved through nine business and personal accounts in six local and foreign banks – including Standard Chartered Bank, Coutts and Falcon Private Bank – to mask the true source of the funds.
Seah became aware of Mr Low’s suspicious transactions on Nov 20 but kept mum, even as BSI’s compliance department examined the transactions and remarked they were “nebulous to say the least and not acceptable”.
Seah also helped Mr Low avoid scrutiny by forging reference letters to other banks in support of the genuineness of certain transactions and in two instances, vouching for the Low family’s net worth of US$1.63 billion, Seah’s letters claimed.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nathaniel Khng said Mr Low was BSI’s “most important client” and transactions involving him “were crucial to the significant bonuses Seah earned” – S$4.1 million between 2010 and 2015.
DPP Khng called for a jail term of two weeks and a fine of S$12,000 for Seah. He urged the court to disregard Seah’s claim that she “found it practically impossible” to disobey her boss’ instructions – even if he asked her to commit a crime by signing off on the forged letters.
Seah’s former boss is Yak Yew Chee, who was a managing director at BSI and Mr Low’s personal banker. Yak was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail and ordered to pay a fine of S$24,000 after he pleaded guilty to four charges last month.
