Singapore started the trial over 1MDB scandal

Yeo Jiawei, former private banker, went on trial in Singapore on Monday in the first prosecution of suspects linked to a massive international money-laundering scandal centred on Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
State prosecutors described the sums involved as “staggering” and said Yeo allegedly pocketed $18.7 million.
Yeo, 33, did so through various means, including “illicit” schemes to swindle his own bank, added prosecutors, who accused him of playing a central role in the “most complex, sophisticated and largest” money-laundering case that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) has ever come across, as the written statement issued at the trial reported.

Yeo allegedly carried out illegal transactions involving 1MDB when he was, between December 2009 and July 2014, a wealth planner with BSI. In May, the Monetary Authority of Singapore ordered BSI to shut down its operations here, citing serious breaches of anti-money-laundering rules.
Yeo is the first of four Singaporeans implicated in the saga to go on trial. His lawyer, Philip Fong, has said that Mr. Yeo intends to fight all the charges against him.

Both Najib, who founded the fund, and 1MDB have strongly denied any wrongdoing. District Judge Ng Peng Hong is presiding over the trial, which is set to run until November 11, with a break on November 4.