Deguito claims she never got a cent from Bangladesh millions

Deguito: I have willingly set myself up as a scapegoat when I only wanted to advance my career. pic.twitter.com/lbLKMdcFNL

— GMA News Breaking (@gmanewsbreaking) April 5, 2016

Maia Santos-Deguito, former branch manager at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. at the center of a raging money laundering controversy, claimed on Tuesday she never gained a single cent from moving $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank to the casinos and junket operators.

"In the name of my children, I did not get anything... even a single cent," Deguito told the Senate blue ribbon committee on Tuesday.

It was established that Deguito opened five fictitious accounts at the RCBC Jupiter branch in Makati City that initially stored the stolen funds before the transfers were made.

She alleged that the account holders were referred to her by casino junket operator Kam Sin "Kim" Wong whom she claimed was a friend of RCBC President Lorenzo Tan.

Deguito was fired by RCBC and charged with falsifying documents before the Department of Justice and the Makati Prosecutor's Office in the wake of the scandal.

Reading from a statement, Deguito said she realized that she had "unwittingly allowed" herself to be a "scapegoat" when all she wanted was to advance her career, boost her performance as bank manage, and help provide for her family.

"These are legitimate goals of every working mother," she said.

She claimed that she acted as a "pawn of a high-stakes chess game played by giants in international banking and high finance..." and denied that she was the mastermind behind the scheme.

"If this committee is looking for the 'grandmaster,' it is not me. The line runs much higher and involves persons with much more clout and authority than a simple bank manager with modest capabilities," she said.

Deguito emphasized that her mistake was to trust Tan, who supposedly told her to take care of his friend, Wong.

Her biggest regret was that she relied on the fact that Tan could not have been unaware of the illicit transactions. – VDS, GMA News