Kim Wong likely mastermind of $81m heist
Online Desk : Mastermind Kim Wong Businessman Kim Wong appears to be the mastermind of the laundering 
through the Philippine financial system of $81 million stolen from Bangladesh Bank.The daily Inquirers reported this quoting Senator Serge Osmeña on Saturday.
The Senator described branch manager of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Maia Santos-Deguito as a credible witness after she faced the senators in a closed session on Thursday. Reportedly, she is also not considered the most guilty party in the caper.
It was Wong who asked Deguito to open the bank accounts where the $81 million was wired, and who instructed her to use the services of foreign exchange remittance company Philrem Services Inc., The Inquirer quoted Osmeña as saying.
He reportedly said Wong will be given the chance to explain his role when he faces the Senate blue ribbon committee, which is investigating the laundering of the money stolen by Chinese computer hackers from Bangladesh Bank’s account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through RCBC and the country’s casinos.
“There is an orchestrator here, a mastermind and right now, it looks like it’s Kim Wong, but we have to give him a chance and let him come back from his trip abroad to testify before the committee,” he told reporters in an interview on Friday.
“He’s a big player in this. He’s a missing link,” he later added, said The Inquirer.Wong is undergoing medical treatment abroad, according to his lawyer Asked why Deguito allowed Wong’s requests, Osmeña said the two knew each other.
According to him, Wong requested Deguito to open five dollar accounts, providing the information sheets and introducing the account holders to her during a meeting at Midas Hotel.The Inquirer report quoting Osmeña said Deguito checked their IDs and later she was sent $2,500 by messenger for the dollar accounts.Four of the five accounts were said to have been used to receive the $81 million.
But when the Senate sergeant at arms looked for the four account holders at their given addresses to serve summons on them to appear at the blue ribbon committee hearing, the addresses turned out to be fictitious, he said.Once the $81 million was in the RCBC accounts, Wong instructed Deguito to use Philrem to remit the funds to other accounts. Wong knows Philrem, Osmeña said.
He said Deguito also insisted that she did not benefit from the transaction, and that the P20 million withdrawn from the account of William Go, allegedly part of the $81 million, was delivered to the businessman, said the report.
