Prosecutors clear remittance firm officials, but ex-bank exec liable in Bangladesh Bank case

September 7, 2017

The justice department cleared executives of remittance firm Philrem Service Corp and two casino operators of involvement in a money laundering case involving $81 million which was stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh central bank.

In a six-page resolution, the DOJ Anti-Money Laundering Task Force granted the motion for reconsideration by Philrem executives Salud Bautista, Michael Bautista and Anthony Pelejo last May and dismissed the charges filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.The resolution was done on August 24 but distributed Thursday.

Former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito is the only principal accused in a money laundering case the justice department filed before the Makati City Regional Trial Court.

The investigating task force stressed Deguito is criminally liable "based on the fact that she facilitated the withdrawal of the said funds from RCBC and depositing them to the accounts of the unknown and fictitious account holders."

The task force cleared the three Philrem executives after finding out they reported a suspicious transfer of funds through the bank.

"The Anti-Money Laundering Task Force took cognizance of the respondents' averment that contrary to the charge filed against them, they have properly submitted a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) on 17 February 2016. The respondents presented the subject STR and since the resolution centered on said document, the charge against them for money laundering is herein dismissed," the resolution signed by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Emilie Fe Delos Santos ruled.

The justice department has yet to resolve separate money laundering charges filed by AMLC against six RCBC officials - former retail banking group head Raul Victor Tan, Ismael Reyes, Brigitte Capiña, Nestor Pineda, Romualdo Agarrado and Angela Ruth Torres.

If the investigating prosecutors find probable cause against the other RCBC officials, they will join Deguito as co-accused in the money laundering case. DMS