Singapore charges ex-banker following 1MDB probe

Singapore authorities have charged a former private banker with money laundering, following their probe into an embattled Malaysian state investment fund, according to people familiar with the case.

Yeo Jiawei, a former wealth planner at the Singapore arm of Swiss private bank BSI SA, was charged on April 16, said the people. While the charge made no mention of 1Malaysia Development Bhd, they stemmed from investigations into the fund's money flows, the people said. Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers on Friday confirmed Yeo's identity and the charge.

The charges raise the stakes in the inquiries taking place across the globe into the affairs of 1MDB, whose advisory board is headed by Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak. Authorities in Malaysia, Switzerland, the US and Luxembourg are examining claims the development fund was used to funnel money to politically-connected individuals. The Swiss estimate that about $4 billion may have been misappropriated from state companies in the Southeast Asian nation. They have said Najib is not a target. A Malaysian parliamentary committee identified at least $4.2 billion of irregular transactions by the fund.

Both 1MDB and the premier have consistently denied wrongdoing. The Malaysian attorney general's office in January cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in receiving donations from the Saudi royal family amid earlier reports by media including the Wall Street Journal that the money came instead from entities linked to 1MDB. It has at least twice rejected the country's central bank's request for criminal proceedings against 1MDB.

Yeo, 33, had proposed investment products to 1MDB, and was questioned as part of Singapore's probe, people familiar with the matter had said.