Bank loses P.7 M in Duterte donation scam
A commercial savings bank lost about P700,000 when a person who posed as Peter Laviña, campaign spokesman for president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, called on bank officials to donate supposedly for the presidential victory party today.
The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)Family Savings Bank filed its complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Graft Division yesterday, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.
In its statement, it appeared that the bank’s liaison officer received a call from the person who introduced himself as Laviña past 1 p.m. on May 31.
“The liaison told the senior officer (that) ‘Peter Laviña’ was asking for donations from BPI in connection with some ‘events’ related to the thanksgiving party and celebration of incoming president Duterte,” the affidavit said.
The senior officer then called “Laviña” and the latter asked for P1 million in cash donation for two events – the Senior Citizens’ Day in Davao City and Duterte’s thanksgiving and victory party.
However, the impostor asked that the deposits be done in three tranches, and that the bank should immediately deposit P300,000 for the Senior Citizen’s Day, which would happen the following day, June 1, right after the phone call.
The money would be deposited to the account of a certain Jericho Jay Sauco at the branch of another bank at Pasong Tamo in Makati City.
The senior officer immediately approved the release of the funds, and it was deposited around 3 p.m. on May 31; the second tranche, which was P400,000, was deposited in the same account at the same branch around 9 a.m. the following day, June 1.
The confidence trickster later demanded that the senior officer deposit immediately the remaining P300,000.
However, the officer received a call from a concerned citizen who said “a syndicate managed to get the contact numbers of highranking incumbent government officials” and that this group is asking for money from corporations, entities and individuals “using the (name of the) incoming president.”
The bank management sought the NBI’s help in arresting the suspects and the Anti-Money Laundering Council to flag the account.
On Thursday, the NBI arrested four people – Sauco, his girlfriend Aubrey Pineda and his companions Paulo Golinao and Raniel Funa – immediately after making withdrawals at the San Pedro, Laguna branch of the same bank where Sauco maintained an account.
The four denied the allegations, saying they knew of the modus only after their arrest.
Sauco, 32, claimed that he was only asked by distant cousin Manuel Funa to give the money to him.
“It would be spent to buy waste disposal trucks,” he said. “I was asked (by Funa) to review accounts and tap prospective companies for the waste disposal management business, and he would immediately hire me as marketing officer.”