Chinese businessman Kim Wong attends the Senate probe into the $81-million money laundering scheme. CATHY MIRANDA/INQUIRER.net
Casino junket operator Kim Wong on Tuesday named two Chinese men allegedly responsible for bringing into the country the $81 million stolen from Bangladesh’s central bank and said Maia Santos-Deguito, a branch manager of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), was involved in the scheme to facilitate the laundered money.
The two were identified as Shuhua Gao and Ding Zhize at the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing into a portion of the $951-million electronic heist on Bangladesh Bank that found its way into the Philippine banking system.
Gao is a junket operator from Beijing whom Wong said he had known for eight years, while Zhize was introduced to him by Gao as an investor in Macau and who brought in the alleged stolen money at the Solaire and Midas casinos. He also said Zhize could be considered a junket agent here.
He said he introduced Gao to Deguito, whom he had known even before she became the RCBC branch manager on Jupiter Street in Makati City. He said Deguito made up five fictitious bank accounts where the stolen money was deposited and even delivered some of the money to the casino.
Deguito did not appear at the hearing. Her lawyer, former Sen. Rene Saguisag, requested that she be given a weeklong respite, citing health reasons.
Wong, who read a statement denying involvement in the money laundering, said Dequito helped Gao open a bank account in her RCBC branch in May 2015. Deguito had reportedly told Gao he needed to open five bank accounts to set up a corporation for his investment.
Two to three days later after the initial meeting, he said Deguito called him up to say Gao needed to put $500 on each of the accounts.
On Feb. 4, he said Gao went to see him to say that Zhize, who is from Macau, would invest in the junket operation here.
“I asked him who he (Zhize) was and he said it was certain (Gao) would bring big investment … He said big money will be coming in,” Wong said.
The next day he said Gao and Zhize went to see him at Solaire to tell him big money will be coming in from the bank accounts in RCBC. It was the first time he met Zhize, he said.
On that day, he was asked by Gao and Zhize to call up Deguito to ask about the bank deposits on Gao’s bank accounts, only to be told by the bank manager that there was still no deposit. Eventually, he said that Deguito called to tell him $6 million had come in and per advice to him by Gao and Zhize. He said he told her to send the money in Solaire.
More money came in afterward in the bank accounts—totaling to $81 million, Wong said.
He said Zhize had wanted Deguito to bring the cash to Solaire and she said she would take care of it.
Before 7 p.m. of the same day, he said Michael Bautista, husband of Salud Bautista who is president of Philrem Service Corp., came to deliver P80 million upon the request of Deguito. He brought the money placed in boxes with an asssistant.
Bautista told them that Deguito would bring the other P20 million to Solaire, according to Wong.
CCTV footage
“Maia arrived at Solaire based on its records at 7:55:33 p.m.,” Wong said, showing a photo of what appears to be a CCTV footage of Deguito’s Honda Jazz.
He said they met at the VIP lounge of the hotel.
But upon questioning by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the panel, on whether there was CCTV footage of the meeting among Wong, Deguito and Bautista, Solaire lawyer Silverio Benny Tan said this footage had been automatically erased by now since regulations by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) that CCTV footage could only be kept for 14 days after which they would be erased.
Wong, in his testimony, also said Bautista told him he needed a receipt for the P100-million delivery and he gave the passport of Weikang Xu, whom Wong described to be a small player. He produced a picture of himself depositing the money at Solaire.
Gentleman’s agreement
On Feb. 9, he said he went to the house of Bautista to get P100 million and $3 million in cash. Wong said he went back to Bautista’s house again the next day this time to get P100 million and $2 million.
On Feb.14, he also got another P100 million from Bautista.
Wong said he got a total of P400 million—P100 million deposited to Solaire and P300 million from Bautista as well as $5 million in cash.
Wong said he deposited the P300 million to the junket operation in Solaire while the $5 million was something that Gao and Zhize wanted to get. “We had a fight over this because the gentleman’s agreement is no one will get any cash as this was not part of the rules,” he said.
But he said that the men got $370,000 and this made him angry. He said what was left in Solaire was $4.63 million. “It’s under safekeeping,” Wong said.
Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes welcomed Wong’s disclosure and said his country want the money back.
Secrecy law
During the hearing, Solaire representative Benny Tan the account of a high roller—called “Ding Group”—worth P107 million had been frozen after it was linked to the stolen $81 million. Solaire also confiscated various denominations of cash from their rooms amounting to P1.347 million, Tan said.
“We are committed to hold these and comply with whatever court order would apply to these,” he said.
RCBC avoided being compelled to submit to the Senate the documents used to open the apparently fictitious accounts that received the $81 million.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III initially sought the documents from the bank, but RCBC lawyer Maria Celia Estavillo said these were covered by the bank secrecy law.
Pimentel contended that if fictitious accounts are involved, the bank secrecy law does not apply. He moved that the bank be compelled to submit the documents. But Estavillo said the bank was maintaining its position.
But Sen. Sonny Angara suggested that the Senate just get the documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which also possess these.
The AMLC told the Senate that it could submit the information, which are already part of public record as they were used to file criminal complaints.
After three hearings, the Senate still has a long way to go before it could piece together the whole picture of what transpired in the alleged laundering, Guingona said.
“It’s hard to make an assessment right now because we can see only half of the picture, one-fourth of the picture,” he told reporters after the hearing.
One of the conflicting tales that came up yesterday has to do with the earlier allegation that P600 million was delivered to Weikang Xu in Solaire Casino, he said.
There was testimony yesterday that Xu was not a player in Solaire and that the amount was not delivered to him, he noted.
Puzzling
Another thing Guingona found “puzzling” was the omission by Salud Bautista of the name of Wong in her earlier testimony on her company’s remittance of the $81 million to various accounts.
Wong had testified that he had picked up money from Bautista’s house.
“That is puzzling. We will look into that, that is certainly something to look at. Why did they not mention that?” he said.
It could be reasoned that Philrem was not asked about Wong in previous hearings, but he said it was a controversial name and should have been mentioned.
But he said that at this point, he would not say who he believes.
“We’re just listening and we’re weighing the evidence,” he said.
The next hearing is scheduled on April 5. Guingona said he could not say how many more hearings need to be conducted before the probe could be wrapped up.
