Ex-BSI banker Yvonne Seah gets two weeks jail and S$10,000 fine in 1MDB case

FORMER BSI private banker Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, who counted Malaysian tycoon Low Taek Jho as a "long time client", was sentenced to two weeks' jail and fined S$10,000 after pleading guilty to three charges in a Singapore state court on Friday.

Seah, 45, was BSI's former senior private banker and director and is the second person to be convicted in Singapore's probe into the fund flows of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The charges involved two counts of abetment to forgery of reference letters allegedly done at the behest of Mr Low, better known as Jho Low and her direct boss Yak Yew Chee. Yak is serving out an 18-week jail term following a guilty plea last month for similar offences.

The third charge was in relation to failure to disclose suspicious transactions allegedly involving Mr Low - the man at the centre of Malaysia's financial scandal.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Nathaniel Khng submitted that Mr Low was Seah's "most important" client and she had earned S$4.1 million in salary plus bonus between 2010 and 2015 based on the transactions involving him.

"The accused, who assisted Yak in managing the relationship with Jho Low, had sought to please Yak and also stood to benefit from continuing the relationship with Jho Low.

"The offences . . . were not committed for an altruistic purpose or out of goodwill toward any individual; . . . the accused had a personal interest in committing these offences," said Mr Khng

District Judge Salina Ishak said she agreed with the prosecution that the court must take an "uncompromising stance" in meting out severe sentences to offences in this category and that a deterrent sentence was warranted.