Kevin Swampillai, who worked for BSI Bank between 2010 and 2016, said he observed this during his interaction with 1MDB’s former CEO, Azmi Tahir, its former deputy CFO, Geh Choh Heng, and former general counsel, Loo Ai Swan.

He said Low, also known as Jho Low, “green-lighted” transactions involving Brazen Sky Limited, with Geh and Loo’s role relegated to just implementing his decisions.

Defence counsel Shafee Abdullah then asked if the witness knew whether Najib was “consulted” over the choice of fund manager for Brazen Sky’s US$2.3 billion “investment”.

Swampillai said: “I don’t have the feeling the prime minister (Najib) was involved in operational matters even though I retain my belief that someone higher up might be aware.”

The witness agreed that Low had acted as a shadow director of Brazen Sky.

Swampillai also said both he and former BSI colleague Yak Yew Chee were called up by Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to have their statements recorded.

Representatives of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) were present at some of those meetings, he added.

He also said he last saw Yak earlier this year but was not aware of what he is currently doing.

Yak, a former BSI relationship manager, had previously managed Low’s family accounts with the bank.

He was jailed for 18 weeks in Nov 2016 for forgery and failing to flag suspicious transactions related to 1MDB.

The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Tuesday.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.