In an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Jupiter Street, Makati branch manager Maia Santos Deguito claimed that RCBC president and CEO Lorenzo Tan knew about the illegal transaction involving a man named Kim Wong.
The report noted: “Wong owns one of six bank accounts allegedly used in moving millions of dollars (US$81 million, to be exact) stolen by unknown hackers from the Bank of Bangladesh and laundered in casinos in Parañaque City.”
READ: PH in center of US$81-million money laundering scandal, Senate to probe
Deguito alleged that Wong then referred to her “four persons who opened on May 2015 the other bank accounts linked to the scam: Michael Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher Lagrosas, Alfred Santos Vergara and Enrico Teodoro Vasquez.”
Deguito was quoted as saying, “I met the five individuals in Solaire Hotel. As I mentioned in the previous interview on the radio. ‘Di ba, as branch manager, mayroon kaming marketing function to go out of office (Isn’t it expected that as a branch manager, I would have a marketing function that requires me to be out of the office)? These five individuals were referred to me in Solaire. And doon, inabot ko iyung forms, na-accomplish iyung forms together with all the supporting documents (It was there that I gave them the forms, which they accomplished and submitted to me with all the supporting documents).”
When asked why she agreed to meet the men at Solaire and not at their bank, Deguito replied, “Kim Wong is a known close friend of the president of the bank (Lorenzo Tan). Iyung mga ganoon kasi, mas may special accommodation (People like that are entitled to special accomodation).”
The report further noted: “Deguito also said that the wire transfer of the illegal funds first passed the RCBC main office before it reached the accounts in the bank’s Jupiter Street branch. She said she even questioned their head office about the sudden remittance of the huge amount. The RCBC Settlements Division, however, allegedly did not raise red flags on the transfer.”
It may be recalled that last Mar 10, Tan already issued a statement denying Deguito’s allegations that he played a role in the opening and subsequent use of the banks accounts allegedly for money laundering.
In his statement, Tan said: “I do not know (Maia Santos-Deguito) personally, which raises the question: ‘How can a branch manager work with a bank president who does not know her on branch level matters? As president of RCBC, I do not engage myself in the opening of accounts, knowing the client and his source of income among other things as required by government rules, and crediting and debiting funds.”
He added, “The branch manager oversees these things. I did not refer anyone to her for the opening of accounts even. I did not handpick Ms. Deguito. She was recommended by a friend, which is normally done everywhere. She went through the same vetting process before she was hired in late 2013. If I did not know her personally, how can I provide her guidance on how to answer a memo from management asking her to explain everything that is now coming out in the media in a level of detail that I could not have been familiar with as CEO?”
