KUALA LUMPUR: A former bank officer with Singapore's BSI Bank told the High Court that he made close to US$6mil (RM27mil) in "secret profits" for carrying out transactions for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and its related companies.
Kevin Michael Swampillai, 59, who is the ex-head of wealth management services at BSI Bank, made the admission during examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam at Datuk Seri Najib Razak's RM2.28bil 1MDB trial here on Thursday (March 2).
The witness said prior to the commission, he and a subordinate, Yeo Jiawei, repeatedly asked for a pay raise from the bank but the requests fell on deaf ears.
He said other bank officers were getting compensated handsomely from transactions initiated by 1MDB, with bonuses that "ran into millions".
"When that happened, my colleague Yeo and I felt we were involved in the transaction implementation and that we deserve a little more. We approached our employer and asked for an increase, which was swiftly declined.
“We rather stupidly decided to seek these benefits ourselves and renegotiated the commissions to be paid to us. That is how we received our benefit,” he said.
Swampillai said they went to the fiduciary funds managers for the new commissions.
When asked by DPP Mohamad Mustaffa what became of the money, Swampillai said he eventually “disgorged” the money to the Singaporean government when local authorities began investigations into the money he received.
On Oct 23, 2020, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced it had issued a lifetime ban on Swampillai from being involved in a list of financial activities, noting that he had among other things received US$5mil in “secret profits” in relation to 1MDB without BSI's knowledge.
Najib, 70, is on trial for 25 charges in total - four for abuse of power that allegedly brought him financial benefit to the tune of RM2.28bil; and 21 for money laundering involving the same amount of money.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on April 17.
