DOJ finds cause to file money laundering raps vs. ex-RCBC branch manager

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has found basis to file money laundering charges against a former branch manager of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and officials of remittance firm Philrem Service Corporation (Philrem) in connection with the $81 million in funds stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank.

In a resolution, the DOJ found probable cause to file charges for violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Republic Act 9160) against RCBC Jupiter Makati branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito and four fictitious bank depositors.

The depositors are Enrico Teodoro Vasquez, Alfred Santos Vergara, Michael Francisco Cruz and Jessie Christopher Lagrosas.

It was Deguito who opened the bank accounts in May 2015, supposedly as referred by businessman Kam Sin Wong or Kim Wong, and deposited the $81 million to the unknown and fictitious account holders on February 4, 2016.

The money was then consolidated into the account of businessman William Go before it was delivered by PhilRem to casinos and junket operator WeiKang Xu.

The DOJ also found probable cause to charge Philrem owners-spouses Salud Bautista and Michael “Concon” Bautista and Philrem PhilRem Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Anthony Pelejo for violations of the anti-money laundering law.

In its complaint, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said PhilRem actually commingled the stolen funds and acted as a “cleaning house,” making it extremely difficult to trace the source and flow of the funds by “washing” the funds and concealing the money trail.

The prosecutors, however, cleared Wong and Xu, saying there was insufficient evidence to "directly link them to the laundering activity."

Wong admitted in a Senate investigation in March last year that his company Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co. Ltd received P1 billion from funds stolen from the Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The businessman claimed that he accepted the money as debt payment and investment from a couple of big time rollers, not knowing it was part of the Bangladesh funds, which was wired to RCBC Jupiter branch in Makati before it was laundered in casinos.

The Philippine government has already returned $15 million of $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The $15 million was returned by Wong.

To help speed up the recovery efforts, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) requested the Bangladesh officials in a meeting last November 29 to provide the BSP a full report on the investigation into the cyber hacking incident to strengthen the Philippine government’s position, on Bangladesh’s behalf, in the court proceedings that aim to bring back the rest of the stolen funds.

The BSP also assured the Bangladesh officials that the Philippines has an “effective anti-money laundering system in place."  —NB, GMA News