KUALA LUMPUR: A former Singaporean banker told the High Court today that he sensed there were financial shenanigans involved when dealing with the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) account.
Kevin Michael Swampillai, a former representative and head of the Wealth Management Services Department of BSI Bank Ltd's Singapore branch, said funds from 1MDB and its entities were being misused and monies invested were ending up in someone else's pocket.
He said there was a sinking feeling within the bank management that something had gone wrong with 1MDB's investment where monies involved were believed to be going into someone else's pockets.
Earlier, Swampillai testified that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low used fiduciary fund companies to give the illusion that funds belonging to 1MDB were invested in bona fide investment instruments.
He said this when testifying as the 44th prosecution witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak's corruption trial for money laundering and misappropriation of RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB.
Swampillai, during a cross-examination by Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah agreed with the latter's contention that monies involved in the investment were never meant to come back to 1MDB.
Shafee: With hindsight, you knew this investment never intended to come back?
Swampillai: Yes. The monies went to yachts, private jets, real estate.
He also agreed with the senior lawyer that the bank's senior management failed to take any action despite unsettling concerns that were raised with regards to transactions involving 1MDB.
"We knew we were being abused but we did not know how we were abused.
"There was always suspicion on my part that something dodgy was going on but (there was) no information to decide one way or another," he said.
Swampillai said he was under impression that Najib was concerned about 1MDB foreign investment during a teleconference call between the latter and BSI's then-relationship manager Yak Yew Chee.
He said the former prime minister asked about valuation of a Bridge Global Absolute Return Funds Investment.
"He (Najib) ended the call by asking for documentation that would attest to the value of the fund.
"My impression was that he was concerned, and this was communicated to Yak.
The nature of the concerns I was not privy to, but it was on the value of the fund where 1MDB monies ended up," he said.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totaling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.