Police charges BSI banker with receiving ill-gotten funds

Singapore police have charged a former employee at Swiss private bank BSI for acquiring property in the city-state using ill-gotten funds, making him the second BSI banker in the city-state to come under scrutiny by authorities this year.

The earlier case related to an ongoing money laundering investigation linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state fund at the centre of a scandal raging in neighbouring Malaysia.

According to the document, Yeo Jiawei, a 33-year-old Singaporean, was charged on April 15 with receiving funds amounting to S$200,000 ($148,247) in his account that were termed "benefits from cheating".

"As investigations are on-going, no further details are available at this time," the Attorney-General's Chambers said in a statement on Friday, adding that Yeo was a former BSI Singapore employee.

Yeo was charged under an act that covers corruption, drug trafficking and other serious crimes, the charge sheet showed.

BSI was not immediately available to comment on the latest probe against a former employee.

A secretary at the bank confirmed that Yeo was no longer an employee and said his contact details were unavailable. Reuters was unable to discover his whereabouts.

In February, court documents showed senior BSI banker Yak Yew Chee was facing a criminal probe for handling accounts for 1MDB and related entities. Yew Chee subsequently left the private bank.

In an affidavit filed at the court, he denied any wrongdoing or getting unlawful benefits from managing the accounts of 1MDB or its affiliates.

Singapore authorities are conducting a money laundering probe into bank accounts linked to 1MDB, whose transactions have triggered investigations across three continents.