“I think he (Low) figured out BSI was hungry for revenue, and the bank would compromise a bit in opening accounts and carrying out the transactions,” Kevin Swampillai said during cross-examination today.
He said this when asked by lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah whether Low chose BSI because of its low standards of compliance.
Testifying for the prosecution at Najib Razak’s 1MDB criminal trial, Swampillai said he and another bank officer, identified only as Lisa, voiced their concerns to the bank’s top management over transactions made by 1MDB and SRC International through the bank.
“There was no information from the client on the transactions and we don’t know where the money ended up.
“Jho Low and Nik (Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil) never answered our questions,” he said, referring to the former SRC International CEO.
‘Immense regret’
Swampillai, who worked for BSI Bank in Singapore from 2010 to 2016, said he “regretted immensely” his involvement in matters concerning 1MDB and SRC International and wished he had done things differently.
“The consequences of my actions and involvement have been severe,” he said, adding that what took place could not be blamed on particular individuals, but was “the collective failure of the bank”.
Reminded by Shafee that the bank was shut down in 2016 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and that three of his former colleagues – Yak Yew Chee, Yvonne Seah and Yeo Jiawei – were slapped with criminal charges which saw them sent to prison, Swampillai said: “I was never formally charged or arrested. I was only called in (by authorities) for questioning, many times.”
However, he said he was only required to testify once, during criminal proceedings brought against his subordinate, Yeo, for witness tampering in 2016.
Yeo was found guilty of obstruction of justice and sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Najib is facing 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.