DOJ filed money laundering charges against RCBC
Online Desk : Bangladesh Bank Philipp
ines’ Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed money laundering charges against officials of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and remittance firm Philrem Service Corp. (Philrem) in connection with the Bangladesh Bank heist, reports The Manila Times on Monday.
According to the report, RCBC Jupiter, Makati branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito and four bank depositors were charged for violation of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
the DOJ also indicted Philrem owners Salud Bautista and Michael Bautista as well as Anthony Pelejo as it junked their defense that they knew nothing about the hacking of the Bangladesh Bank, the report added.
In February 2016, $81 million was successfully transferred to four fake accounts in a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in the Philippines. Most of the funds then disappeared into Manila’s loosely regulated casino industry.
“The Consolidated Resolution recommends the indictment of Ms. Deguito and four unknown persons; based on the fact that she facilitated the withdrawal of the said funds from RCBC and depositing them to the accounts of the unknown and fictitious account holders. The funds eventually went to the account of a certain Mr. Go, proprietor of Centurytex.
The funds were then withdrawn. Mr. Go denied that he opened an account with RCBC and his contention is now the subject of another case. Some of the funds were allegedly gambling in the casinos and some handed to individuals and banks,” the DOJ was quoted to have said in its resolution.
The Manila Times obtained a copy of the department’s 12-page Consolidated Review Resolution that reads the department has yet to rule on the cases against several RCBC executives including Raul Victor Tan, head of the bank’s Retail Banking Group, the report also said.
IT reads that meanwhile, the DOJ exonerated Filipino Chinese national and casino junket operators Kim Wong and Weikang Xu “for insufficiency of evidence.”
The DOJ ruled that Wong’s and Xu’s direct participation in the crime as narrated by Deguito could not be established, it added.It added that Deguito claimed she was ordered by Wong to go to Midas Hotel to open bank accounts for five Filipinos on 14 May 2015.
