SINGAPORE — After he was shown to have lied under oath, former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei yesterday made an about-turn and confessed that he had actually stayed over at a controversial Malaysian tycoon’s apartment in Hong Kong in September 2014.

On Wednesday, Yeo, 33, told the district court that he had flown to Hong Kong on Mr Low Taek Jho’s private jet and booked himself a return commercial flight hours later — without leaving the vicinity of the airport.

But yesterday, the 11th day of his witness-tampering trial, Yeo changed his story and said there was “nothing sinister” about him staying at Mr Low’s apartment.

The Malaysian tycoon, also known as Jho Low, has been named as one of the persons of interest in Singapore’s investigations into an international money-laundering operation tied to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Yeo himself is alleged to have played a key role in the operation.

Mr Low was Yeo’s boss after he left BSI, the prosecution alleged.

Asked why he lied on the stand, Yeo said yesterday: “Because the Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) is trying to portray me (like) I’m very close to Mr Low. The truth (is) I’m not close and I fell (for) their game.”

“So, you’re telling the court that you’re prepared to lie ... in order not to fall into the prosecution’s game?” shot back DPP Tan Kiat Pheng.

Yeo, a former wealth planner at BSI, a Swiss private bank, faces four charges of perverting the course of justice by communicating and meeting witnesses central to the Commercial Affairs Department’s investigations into the 1MDB affair.

Other charges relating to forgery, cheating and money laundering will be dealt with in April.

During yesterday’s hearing, the prosecution continued to portray Yeo as a liar. He had testified previously that he processed payment for 27 tickets to a Manny Pacquiao boxing match in Las Vegas on behalf of Mr Low’s close friend, Mr Eric Tan Kim Loong.

Prosecutors believed that the tickets — costing US$1.36 million (S$1.9 million) — were bought by Yeo, and produced a WhatsApp conversation between Yeo and prosecution witness Jose Pinto, a relationship manager from Amicorp Group, on the subject.

It emerged yesterday that after Yeo became an independent consultant in 2014, he earned referral fees of between US$12 million and US$15 million for deals involving 1MDB, SRC International (Malaysia) and Aabar Investments PJS Limited.

SRC is a former 1MDB unit, while Aabar is a shell company bearing a similar name to an Abu Dhabi state fund subsidiary.

There were also deals that fell through, such as a plan for Aabar to buy Amicorp Bank and Trust.

While Yeo had always maintained that he was an intermediary between the two organisations, prosecutors charged that he had played a more central role in the proposed takeover.

In a WhatsApp conversation between Yeo and Mr Pinto in September last year, Yeo seemed to suggest that he had been “mandated to run this project”, and had connections to Middle Eastern royalty and prominent Malaysian and Indonesian businessmen.

Confronted with his earlier remarks, Yeo said: “This, for me personally, is like a project because it’s important for me, it’s going to be a big deal. And the potential of this deal would be in millions also. So that is the idea that I want to position in all these conversations that I have with (Mr Pinto).”

The trial has been adjourned to next Tuesday, where the prosecution is expected to wrap up its cross-examination of Yeo.