RCBC’s Tan files libel raps vs Deguito, lawyer

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. president Lorenzo Tan filed separate civil and criminal charges before the Makati City regional trial court yesterday against former RCBC- Jupiter branch manager Maia Deguito for her “scurrilous remarks” implicating him as the mastermind in a money-laundering activity involving the bank.

RCBC is among Philippine banks and casinos allegedly involved in the $81-million Bangladesh Bank fund heist.

The bulk of the laundered money was deposited in its Jupiter branch in Makati.

The criminal complaint against

Deguito charges her with libel and false testimony under the Revised Penal Code.

“All of these imputations were products of mere assumptions made by respondent that I oversaw and thus authorized the questioned transactions. Her imagination had simply gone beyond what was real or actual, and is farthest from the truth,” Tan alleged in his complaint.

“The imputation of the foregoing acts diminished if not destroyed my reputation as a banker,” he said.

He added that his profession is based on utmost trust and confidence between himself and the bank’s clients, and he has striven hard to keep his reputation from being sullied because it is his source of livelihood and productivity as a professional.

“Without a good reputation, I cannot be a credible banker,” Tan said.

He also alleged that the public defamatory remarks made by Deguito in media interviews, Senate hearings and in her reply to RCBC’s show- cause memorandum show malice on her part and is “a clear ploy to create a defense for herself against the various criminal accusations made against her by implicating me as complicit in her caper.”

Deguito, according to Tan, is also guilty of false testimony, having stated before the Senate that Tan gave her instructions to “take care of his friends.”

In a statement read before the Senate on April 5, Deguito said that she “relied on the fact that Mr. Tan could not have been unaware of a transaction that has been labeled the biggest bank heist in the history of the world.”

Aside from criminal charges, Tan also filed a civil complaint against Deguito for abuse of rights and defamatory imputations, and claimed damages amounting to P32 million. In a statement, Tan said he filed the cases to protect his honor and integrity as a person and as a professional banker. “I have no other asset but my reputation, a gift that is of utmost value in an industry dealing with trust and people’s monies,” he said. “Even if her accusations against me are found untrue, my reputation which I had carefully built and guarded for almost 35 years has already been irretrievably tainted.

”He said that to clear his name, he has taken a voluntary leave to avoid any perception of undue influence in the ongoing internal investigation by RCBC on the matter.According to Tan, Deguito and her counsel Ferdinand Topacio conjured together to make public imputations of money laundering offenses and dishonorable conduct against him, despite the blatant admission of the former bank manager that she directly handled the money laundering transactions. Over the past nine years of Tan’s service in RCBC, he steered the bank to unprecedented growth in its 54-year history, from total assets of P220 billion in 2007 to P530 billion in 2015. He oversaw the expansion of its branch network from 294 in 2006 to 456 at present, automated teller machines from 257 to 1,342 and customers from 800,000 to 7.3 million as of December last year.

Under Tan’s leadership, the bank reaped 94 awards from world class financial institutions or publications such as the Asia CEO Awards, Asia

Money, World Finance magazine based in London, Asian

Banking & Finance magazine, Visa International and the IDC Financial Innovations and Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards, among others.

His experience in the banking industry spans almost 34 years. Aside from RCBC, Tan was president and chief executive officer of several banks and banking associations, and is a recognized leader in the banking industry.

Tan is claiming moral, exemplary and temperate damages on top of attorney’s fees.