An executive of First Bank Business Capital, which is part of First Banks of Clayton, Mo., took the stand today in the federal fraud trial of Sholom Rubashkin, the former head of kosher meat firm Agriprocessors Inc.

One disclosure: The bank advanced Agriprocessors $3.45 million even after an immigration raid in May 2008 at Agriprocessors’ Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse. Here’s how the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reports some of today’s testimony:

The testimony during week two of Rubashkin’s financial fraud trial touched on a central question for a South Dakota jury:

Did Rubashkin lie to First Bank, with fake sales records that cost the bank millions when the plant defaulted? Or did bank executives overlook sloppy business practices and illegal workers at the plant because of the millions of dollars collected from loan interest payments?

Gary Pratte, a First Bank vice president, said borrowers such as Agriprocessors were routinely monitored by bank employees. When pressed by defense lawyer Guy Cook, he said he had not reviewed the loan himself.

“I have thousands of calls to make each day, and I can’t read every loan document,” he said.

Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy after First Bank moved to foreclose on its assets. Rubashkin faces 91 charges including bank fraud and money laundering.