DOJ clears Philrem execs in money laundering case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared the executives of remittance firm Philrem Service Corp. in a money laundering case involving $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank.

This development has left former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito as the lone defendant identified in the case filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court.

In a six-page resolution released yesterday, the DOJ anti-money laundering task force granted a motion for reconsideration filed by Philrem executives Salud Bautista, Michael Bautista and Anthony Pelejo in May, and dismissed the charges filed against them by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Government prosecutors said the Philrem executives had properly reported the suspicious fund transfer through the bank.

The resolution, signed by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Emilie Fe delos Santos, said the antimoney laundering task force recognized that the Philrem executives submitted a suspicious transaction report (STR) on Feb. 17, 2016.

The DOJ 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.

This means more accused may join Deguito in the court cases, depending on the findings of a separate investigating panel. Deguito also filed a motion for reconsideration

and sought the dismissal of the charges filed against her, but the DOJ task force denied her appeal and stood firm on its finding.

The DOJ reiterated she is criminally liable as she facilitated the withdrawal of the funds from RCBC and deposited these to the accounts of unknown and fictitious individuals.

With the findings, the DOJ recently filed a case for eight counts of money laundering under Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act before the Makati RTC against Deguito and four unidentified persons who created the fictitious bank accounts at RCBC where the stolen funds were deposited.

The DOJ also affirmed its dismissal of the charges filed against casino junket operators Kim Wong and Weikang Xu for insufficient evidence.

It said the AMLC’s allegations against Wong and Xu were not supported by direct evidence, but conjectures and implications.