MANILA -- The speedy resolution of a money laundering complaint against a former bank official in relation to stolen Bangladesh Bank (BB) funds, USD81 million of which was transferred to a Philippine bank in 2016, will hopefully discourage the commission of similar crimes in the future.
In a reply to questions from the Philippine News Agency (PNA), the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Secretariat said Thursday’s conviction of former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Jupiter, Makati branch manager Maia Deguito, who was sentenced to up to seven years of imprisonment each for seven counts of money laundering, will “most definitely” play as a fear factor for people who plan to do the same crime.
“The reason is that, apart from the swift justice that was delivered, the decision did not just convict the accused to imprisonment, but it likewise imposed appropriate fines in the millions of dollars,” it said.
Aside from the prison term, the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 149 also fined Deguito almost USD110 million.
AMLC said the decision against Deguito is “very important because this is the first money laundering (ML) case where the Supreme Court’s continuing trial” was applied.
“This case started in January 2018 and concluded one year after. This is unprecedented,” it said.
The Financial Intelligence unit (FIU) described the conviction as “a welcome and encouraging development in our fight against money laundering.”
“On the basis of this decision and the strength of our evidence, we can now immediately secure an ML conviction from the Court,” it added.
The case against Deguito started when the BB funds were stolen from its account with the Federal Reserve of New York on Feb. 4, 2016, which is considered one of the biggest cyber-heists in the world.
The funds were transferred to four US dollar accounts that were opened at the RCBC Jupiter branch in May 2015 under the names of Michael F. Cruz, Jessie Christopher M. Lagrosas, Alfred S. Vergara, and Enrico T. Vasquez. These accounts remained inactive until the BB funds came in.
A portion of the stolen money was eventually traced to casino junket operator Kim Wong, who later on returned a total of USD4.63 million and PHP488 million worth of cash to the AMLC. (PNA)
