Deguito (INQUIRER)
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 yesterday.
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 Feb. 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 Feb. 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 lunchtime of Feb. 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 e-mail 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 remittance.
Deguito said the e-mail request was sent to the settlements department past 2 p.m., but they only received an answer around 6 p.m.
Just a 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 Feb. 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.