Deguito names more RCBC officials involved in money laundering

Former RCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

More officials of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) have been dragged into the alleged $81 million money laundering scam as former branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito continued her testimony at the Senate on Tuesday.

Contrary to allegations, Deguito said she did not rush the withdrawal of the alleged stolen funds from Bangladesh when the money was credited to its beneficiaries on February 5.

In fact, she said, she immediately informed her regional sales director, Brigitte Capeña, and Raul Tan, executive vice president of RCBC, when she received an order to recall the funds last February 9.

“Alam na nilang may problema, but still they continued to trade the dollar,” Deguito said during the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

She began her story when the funds were credited to four depositors in her branch about lunch time of February 5.

She said she was surprised when the huge remittances were credited to the accounts without a call from the bank’s settlement’s department.

“In the previous banks po kasi that I had been with, may ganun (call from the settlement’s department) especially if it’s big. They will ask for supporting documents to support the remittances, pero dito po kasi nagulat ako biglang na-credit yung account,” the former branch manager said.

“And sila rin naman po ang nagsabi, hindi ba, ‘pag na-credit yung accounts ng kliyente, we are powerless para hindi siya ipa-withdraw kasi that’s considered withdrawable kasi cleared balance siya e.”

While the money was already credited to the beneficiaries, Deguito said she still instructed the bank’s senior customer relations officer (SCRO), Angela Torres, to email the settlements department and ask for an advance copy of the MT 103, which she said contained details of the funds such as the amount, the sender, the beneficiary, and the purpose of the emittance.

Deguito said the email request was sent to the settlements department past 2 p.m., but they only received an answer around 6 p.m.

Just few hours after the funds were credited to the beneficiaries, she said she received an instruction over the phone from junket operator Kim Wong to convert the dollars and remit the money to Bloomberry Hotels Inc. (Solaire Resorts) and Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co.

In the evening of February 5, Deguito said she received a call from her district head, Nestor Pineda, asking her about the account.

“Tinanong lang naman po ako kung kelan na-open yung account, sabi ko May 2015 pa. Tapos, ‘Are you waiting for this remittance?’ (Sabi ko) matagal na akong naghihintay ng malaking volume for the branch, but I did not say matagal ko na itong hinihintay because I didn’t know noong nakipag-meeting ako sa kanila noong una when the accounts were opened. Hindi naman po nabanggit ‘yan na may ganyang kalaki. All I wanted was an account. Mr. Wong just referred those accounts to me,” she said.

Deguito said Pineda then asked her if she could still hold the account.

“Sabi ko po, ‘Bakit iho-hold? Sir, kung gusto mong i-hold, sige, e-email mo na lang po ako.’Tapos, he didn’t email me,” she said.

She said she called her other boss, Capina, and informed her about Pineda’s request to hold the account.

“Tapos sabi niya, ‘Bakit iho-hold e remittance yan, cleared funds yan?’” she said, quoting Capina as saying.

By the time she received an email from the settlements department on February 9 to recall the funds, Deguito said the depositors had already made several transactions.

“But immediately upon knowing na wala kaming nagawa at may mga na-withdraw na din sa beneficiary sa account, I immediately called my boss, si Brigitte Capina, dumeretso na nga po ako, hindi na ako dumaan kay Nestor Pineda. I told her may problema ako kasi there’s a recall of funds email and wala na akong mare-recall doon sa apat na creditor, na beneficiaries,” she said.

“But I know where the funds are still are. It’s still with William Go and some of which are still with Philrem. So I was hoping they could still do something about it.”

Go was reportedly one of the account holders in the branch, while Philrem Service Corp is the remittance company that supposedly transmitted the funds to the beneficiaries.

Deguito said Capina then handed the phone to Tan and she told him the problem.

“I was telling them, sir, I have a problem; there’s a recall of funds that I read late na kasi hindi naman real time yung email e, and I was hoping since recall of funds ‘yun, somebody from settlements could have called the branch and alarmed us na hindi na pwedeng mag-allow ng withdrawal kasi may recall na, pero wala kasing ganung nangyari, so nagsabi po ako sa kanila.

“And then ang sabi ni Sir Raul noong kausap ko siya: Sir, may problema ako kasi wala na akong ma-recall sa apat na account na na-creditan pero ‘yun nga, andun pa yung mga funds—and then he told me hindi natin problema ‘yun, problema ng Bangladesh ‘yun.”

“So nag-inform po ako sa kanila; I wanted to do something about it. Hindi ko po minadali yung withdrawal; nagkataon lang po na nandun na kasi yung instruction, the signatures were verified, fully accomplished naman ‘yung withdrawal slip, wala naman pong cash withdrawals talaga, wala akong authority to hold it…” she further said. JE

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