A MAKATI CITY court on Thursday convicted former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

(RCBC)
branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito of eight counts of money-laundering involving $81 million
stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February
2016.

Judge Cesar O. Untalan of Makati City regional trial court Branch 149 ordered Ms. Deguito to pay
fine totalling $109.5 million and sentenced her to imprisonment of four to seven years for each
count.

At the same time, Ms. Deguito was acquitted of one charge due to double jeopardy as she was
charged twice for allowing a transaction worth $14.31 million.

The case stemmed from illegal fund transfers from the account of Bangladesh Bank with the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York to four accounts under fictitious names opened at RCBC’s Jupiter Street
branch in Makati City. The funds were withdrawn and spent in casinos, where they disappeared.
The government has been helping Bangladesh Bank trace the missing money, but so far only $15
million has been recovered from a junket operator.

In its 26-page decision, the court found that Ms. Deguito “facilitated these transactions to their full
and complete implementation without any sign of hesitation.”

It also said that she must be “responsible and criminally liable” as she was the manager of RCBC
Jupiter Street branch which processed the transactions.

“(H)er declaration in the open court that she has nothing to do with these transactions was a
complete and comprehensive lie.”

Ms. Deguito’s legal counsel, Demetrio C. Custodio, Jr., said she will file a motion for reconsideration.
“I should say that we have very good grounds to file a motion for reconsideration. We would like to
point out here that this case will still follow a very long process. This is just a momentary setback in
so far as Ms. Deguito is concerned,” he told reporters after the promulgation.
In a separate interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Mr. Custodio said: “There should be more
people who should be more liable for this, other than a very lowly bank officer who has nothing to
do with operational matters.”

He also said the former UCPB branch manager will still enjoy provisional liberty until the decision
attains finality in the Supreme Court since the bail she paid does not have expiration.

In a statement, RCBC spokesperson Thea T. Daep said: “The conviction of Maia Deguito is consistent
with the bank’s position that it is the victim in this situation and that Ms. Deguito is a rogue
employee.”

“There is another case being handled by DoJ against six other RCBC officials,” Asad Alam Siam,
Bangladesh’s ambassador to the Philippines, said in a statement.

“We hope that this case could be expedited and could go to trial soon for a decision.”

RCBC was fined a record P1 billion by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in August 2016 for its failure
to prevent movement of the stolen money through its system.

Sought for comment, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) — which said that “to date, there
have been eight individuals convicted of money laundering” so far — said in a statement that “(Ms.)
Deguito’s conviction only helps the retrieval [of the rest of the stolen $81 million] by bolstering the
civil forfeiture cases through which recovery efforts are coursed.” It explained that such cases are
pending in regional trial courts against Kam Sin Wong, also known as Kim Wong, owner of Estern
Leisure Hawaii Co. to which some of the missing funds were transferred by remittance agent
Philrem Service Corp., as well as against Philrem owners Michael and Salud Bautista.

The court said that with Ms. Deguito’s 16 years in banking, she had knowledge of the requirements
of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) such as the minimum amount of P500,000 per
transaction for reporting covered transactions.
“To disregard such mandate of the State, accused is putting herself in danger of committing crime:
violation of the AMLA law, which she is now being criminally charged for nine counts. Thus, she has
nothing to blame; but herself,” the decision read. — with Reuters and Melissa L. T. Lopez

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has denied the plea of five officers of the Rizal Commercial
Banking Corp. (RCBC) to clear them of criminal culpabilities for alleged violation of the Anti-Money
Laundering Act in connection with the $81-million cyber heist involving funds owned by
Bangladesh Bank.

In a resolution signed by Assistant State Prosecutor Mary Jane Systat, the DOJ sustained the
application of the “willful blindness doctrine” in finding probable cause to indict the respondents
Raul Victor Tan, National Sales Director Ismael Reyes, Regional Sales Director Brigitte Capiñ a,
Customer Service Head Romualdo Agarrado and Senior Customer Relationship Angela Ruth Torres
for violation of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.

The willful blindness doctrine is defined as the deliberate avoidance or knowledge of a crime,
especially by failing to make a reasonable inquiry about suspected wrongdoing, despite being
aware that it is highly probable.

“There is no better way to describe the acts of respondents Tan, Capiñ a, Reyes, Agarrado and
Torres than this,” the resolution read.

The five RCBC officers are being accused of facilitating the suspicious transactions involving the
accounts of a certain Michael Cruz ($6 million), Jessie Christopher Lagrosas ($30 million), Alfred
Vergara ($20 million) and Enrico Vasquez ($25 million) despite stop-payment requests from the
Bangladesh Bank.

The respondents, according to the DOJ, were found instrumental in the lifting of the temporary hold
on the four beneficiary accounts of the international inward remittances of funds allegedly
wrongfully taken from the Bangladesh Bank, and the withdrawal of such funds, among other acts.
The resolution found the five to have, among others, deliberately avoided knowledge of the crime,
“by failing to make a reasonable inquiry about suspected wrongdoing, despite being aware that it is
highly probable.”

It added: “By the very nature of their work in handling millions of pesos in daily transactions, the
degree of responsibility, care and trustworthiness expected of bank employees and officials are
greater than those of ordinary clerks and employee.”