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The
Philippines has some of the world’s strictest bank secrecy laws to
protect account holders, while its casinos are exempt from rules
altogether aimed at preventing money laundering.
The
$81 million was stolen from the Bangladesh central bank’s accounts
in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last month via electronic
transfer to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
Bangladesh
Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes said there were millions of
Bangladeshi employed by the garments industry and the money that was
stolen was for those people. "it is their money" Gomes
said.
He
explained that Bangladesh is second in the world when it comes to the
production of ready-made garments.
“The
Philippines is very attractive for dirty money because our laws have
gaping holes. It’s easy to launder money here,” Sen. Sergio
Osmeña III, who is pushing for stronger antimoney laundering laws,
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Authorities
took four days to order a recall of the money. But by then, it had
vanished.
Maia
Santos-Deguito, manager of the RCBC Jupiter branch was stopped at
Ninoy Aquino International Airport from trying to leave the country.
“I
live every day in fear,” Deguito said. It could be out of fear of
death threats that she transferred the money to the fake
accounts although Bangladesh Bank sent RCBC several messages via the
SWIFT interbank communications network, requesting transactions be
stopped and the funds be returned.
Authorities
in Bangladesh and Philippines confused over who masterminded the
cyberheist. Deguito’s role as manager of the bank branch that
accepted and shifted the money has come under intense scrutiny.
She
has accused the RCBC president, Lorenzo Tan, of ordering her to move
the money while Lorenzo Tan has fiercely denied the accusations.
Accusations and counter accusations between Deguito and the RCBC
management have further confused investigators.
Senators
who launched an inquiry last week into the heist are yet to determine
whether she was a scapegoat or not, but are convinced she was not the
mastermind.
“It’s
a big operation. This could not have been done out of the Philippines
alone,” Sen. Ralph Recto said.
The
Senate blue ribbon committee inquiry and another probe by the
Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) have hit several
major hurdles, including a security camera at the bank not working
when the money was shifted.
A
final roadblock has emerged at the casinos, with the money apparently
vanishing in mountains of gambling chips and mysterious middlemen.
“Our money trail ended at the casinos,” Julia Bacay-Abad, deputy
director of the AMLC, told the Senate investigators last Tuesday.
On
Feb. 5, the same day Bangladesh Bank was hacked, the money was sent
electronically to four accounts in Deguito’s RCBC branch, according
to testimony to the Senate inquiry.
Those
accounts appeared to have been set up solely for that purpose because
they were done using aliases, the Senate inquiry heard.
After
that, the bulk of the money was transferred into accounts of a
Chinese-Filipino businessmen, William Go, who has since maintained his
innocence. He said his signature was forged to set up the accounts.
From
there, the money was briefly held by Philrem, a foreign exchange
brokerage.
Philrem
president Salud Bautista told the Senate inquiry that $30 million
went to a man named Weikang Xu. He was described as a casino junket
operator, but senators have said they know little more about him
other than he is of Chinese origin.
The
AMLC said another $29 million ended up in Solaire, a casino on a
glittering Manila bayside strip that the Philippines hopes will
become one of the world’s biggest gambling destinations.
That
money was exchanged into chips but could only be turned back into
cash after being played in the casino; its management told the Senate
inquiry.
Another
$21 million was sent to Eastern Hawaii Leisure, which runs a sparsely
furnished casino with Chinese-only television in Santa Ana, a sleepy
town in Cagayan province, in the far northern Philippines, according
to the AMLC.Osmeña said the case was likely just the tip of the
iceberg.
“This
could have happened hundreds of times already,” he said. “We
discovered this one only because someone complained. But normally, if
a drug dealer from Burma (Myanmar) or China would send money here, no
one would complain.”
Bangladesh
Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes expressed his disappointment
about the money that was stolen.
"It
was really shocking that hard-earned money which belonged to our
middle class and lower middle class peoples landing in casinos over
here," he said.
Gomes
said, "I don't believe a manager of any bank in the world could
handle millions of dollars which suddenly appeared in some accounts,
which now they say are fictitious accounts... I don't think, anywhere
in the world, the CEO or a president of bank would allow a manager to
deal with huge amounts."
A
2014 study by Oxford University, using data on the percentage of the
population considered destitute, ranked Bangladesh as the third-most
impoverished in South Asia, after Afghanistan and India.
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