KUALA LUMPUR: Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was displeased with BSI Bank Singapore which had repeatedly pressed him for information due to many red flags raised on the account of SRC International (Malaysia) Limited with BSI (SRC BVI BSI).
Former BSI Bank Singapore head of Wealth Management Services (WMS) Kevin Michael Swampillai testified that said there were large funds being funnelled to obscure structures in the account after it was opened in 2011.
"There was no information as to the final destination of these funds despite many and ultimately, unsuccessful, attempts made to elicit this information.
"The (bank) Client Acceptance Committee had repeatedly pressed Low, through the relationship manager (Yak Yew Chee) for this information at the onboarding and post-onboarding stage.
"However, Low repeatedly refused to provide the requested information citing the supposed strict confidentiality requirements and government-to-government nature of these transactions," he said in his witness statement before High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin today (March 5).
Swampillai said eventually, BSI stopped pressing Low for this information.
"In early 2012, Jho Low had conveyed his displeasure to Yak in connection with BSI's requests for further information and threatened to close the account with BSI.
"This was conveyed by Yak to all the relevant departments at BSI, including WMS, via email.
"Faced with the threat of the loss of significant revenue, BSI thus dropped this issue and proceeded with the implementation of the transactions," he said when testifying in SRC's civil suit against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Swampillai said Low had approached BSI to enquire about the opening of an account for SRC BVI with BSI and the implementation of certain fiduciary solutions.
He said he was requested by Yak to attend a meeting with Low and to conduct a presentation on the range of fiduciary solutions available through BSI.
The meeting, he said, took place sometime in the second quarter of 2011 at the St Regis Hotel in Singapore.
"I had been informed by Yak and the senior management at BSI that Low had represented to them that he was acting as an advisor of the first defendant (Najib).
"And that the opening of an account for SRC BVI with BSI and overseeing transactions through this account was in connection with SRC's intended strategic investments internationally.
"Not long after this meeting the SRC BVI account was opened and SRC BVI executed several transactions transferring monies to certain fiduciary funds," he said.
From Nov 22,2011 to April 2, 2014, SRC International tranferred US$864.5 million (RM4.1 billion) to SRC BVI's account.
He said the primary objective of clients when using fiduciary funds is to facilitate the flow of money to a particular destination of their choosing while also concealing the identity of the investor.
Swampillai said Low had made verbal representations and intimations that he was acting under the authority of the then prime minister Najib.
"In the face of persistent questions by BSI on the final destination and use of funds channeled through the fiduciary funds, Low's responses were consistent in that these transactions were highly confidential government-to- government investments and therefore no further information could be made available.
"The size of these transactions were of such a high magnitude and frequency that they had to have some kind of apex approval such as that issued by a highly placed government official such as a prime minister," he said.
On May 7, 2021, SRC's new management initiated legal action against Najib, naming him as the first defendant, for alleged breach of trust and breach of statutory duty involving the RM4 billion KWAP loan to SRC.