Singapore Files More Charges, Sets Trial Dates for Ex-BSI Banker

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore filed two more charges against former BSI SA employee Yeo Jiawei as the attorney-general’s office prepares to present its case in October against the private banker involved in probes related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Yeo will face four charges of perverting the course of justice, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday. The trial dates for these charges will be from Oct. 31 until Nov. 11, it said.

Malaysian state investment company 1MDB is at the center of several international investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering by public officials. Prosecutors in at least four countries -- Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S. -- are looking into money flows from the investment vehicle, which was established for national development.

Yeo was a wealth planner at BSI who recommended investment products to 1MDB, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He was the first banker to be charged in relation to cases stemming from 1MDB investigations and has been held by authorities since April 15.

Other than the charges in the case set for October and November, Yeo also faces additional ones for money laundering, forgery and cheating BSI by hiding a $1.6 million annual payment he would have received from a Cayman Islands fund. The fund got $2.3 billion in 2012 from a subsidiary of 1MDB called Brazen Sky, according to a Malaysian parliamentary hearing report. Dates for trials on those charges haven’t been announced.

Yeo’s lawyer has previously said in court that he intends to fight the charges.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Mamudi in Hong Kong at smamudi@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Sebastian Tong