Palace praises AMLC probe on Bangladesh Bank heist

Malacañang said Saturday that the government will leave no stone unturned in the investigation into the multi-billion peso money laundering scheme that allegedly involved Filipino-Chinese businessman William Go.

Presidential Communications Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III lauded the Anti-Money Laundering Council's (AMLC) probe investigation on the $81 million bank transfer to the Philippines from the Bangladesh Bank.

"We are confident that their investigations will leave no stone unturned dahil ang nakataya dito ang kumpiyansa hindi lang ng mga dayuhan kundi ng ating mga kapwa Pilipino sa integridad ng sistema ng mga bangko sa ating bayan. And, therefore, we can see that these agencies are doing their jobs," Quezon said.

He added that the ongoing investigation is a message to the global community that the Philippines is not a safe haven for illicit funds.

The are reports that the hackers used a malware to steal money from Bangladesh Bank and transfer $80 million to Philippine banks and casinos and to Hong Kong.

"I think the discovery of this and its investigation is proof positive that we are responsible member of the global banking community," Quezon said.

William Go, through his lawyer Ramon Esguerra, denied on Friday any participation in the money laundering transaction. He claimed that Maia Santos-Deguito, manager of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch in Makati City where the illicit funds were allegedly deposited, was involved in the scam.

Go claimed the transactions under his supposed accounts with the RCBC Jupiter branch were done by Deguito without his knowledge.

Deguito and her family were barred from leaving the country for Japan on the same day in connection with the AMLC probe.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, who represents Deguito, condemned the bank manager's offloading and insinuated that she could not have pulled off the huge money laundering scheme without the knowledge of higher ranking bank officers. Virgil Lopez/ALG, GMA News