Money laundering charges against six officers of the Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) are still pending with the Department of Justice (DOJ), says the country’s Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon
This means that the case of the $81-million cyber heist in Bangladesh Bank in 2016 is not yet closed despite the conviction last week for money laundering of RCBC’s former branch manager Maia Santos Deguito, reports Manila Bulletin on Sunday (Jan 13).
Fadullon said the complaint filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in November 2016 against former RCBC treasurer Raul Victor Tan, national sales director for retail banking Ismael Reyes, regional sales director for retail banking Brigitte Capiña, direct sales director Nestor Pineda, customer service head for Jupiter business center Romualdo Agarrado, and senior customer relations officer for Jupiter business center Angela Ruth Torres has not been resolved by the DOJ.
“There is no resolution yet from the preliminary investigation earlier conducted on that case,” Manila Bulletin quoted Fadullon.
He, however, could not say when would the resolution of the complaint could be handed down.
“We will check on the status of the case first before we can give a timetable on when the resolution could be released,” he Fadullon.
Tan resigned in April 2016 “out of decency and honor,” while Torres was dismissed by the bank after she and Deguito were found by the RCBC to have been involved in the money laundering scheme.
Earlier, Bangladesh Ambassador in Manila Asad Alam Siam called on the DOJ to resolve the charges against other RCBC officers as he revealed that their government also plans to file a lawsuit in New York against executives of RCBC.
Tan and the five other RCBC officers were charged with violation of Section 4(f) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The complaint alleged that “in consequence of his failure to order enhanced due diligence on the high-risk accounts and to continue the hold on the beneficiary accounts, Tan facilitated the commission of money laundering under Section 4(f) of the AMLA, as amended.”
It claimed “there were suspicious indications of violations of the AMLA, as amended, or red flags, which deserved further investigations by RCBC.”
“Tan was in a position to order enhanced due diligence based on the red flags. Tan could have convened the anti-money laundering committee to act on these red flags,” the complaint also alleged.
The AMLC had also filed charges against casino junket operators Kim Wong and Weikang Xu, Michael and Salud Bautista of money transfer firm Philrem, and money laundering compliance officer Anthony Pelejo. However, the DOJ dismissed the charges for lack of basis.
Only Deguito was charged in court. Last week, the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) found her guilty of money laundering and imposed on her a prison term ranging from four to seven years for each of the eight counts.
Under the rules, Deguito can file a motion for reconsideration before the RTC. If denied, she can elevate it to the Court of Appeals (CA) and eventually to the Supreme Court (SC).