Court upholds conviction of bank manager at center of $81-M heist
THE PHILIPPINES’ Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) manager for money laundering in connection with the $81-million Bangladesh Bank cyber-heist in 2016.
The appellate court’s First Division rejected the appeal of ex-bank manager Maia Santos Deguito, who was convicted by a regional trial court for eight counts of money laundering, based on a Feb. 6 order released on April 19.
“In light of the above conclusions, there is no doubt that the prosecution was able to prove that Deguito is guilty of eight counts of violation of Section 4f of Republic Act No. 9160, as amended,” it said. “The court finds no need to further discuss the other issues raised by the parties.”
Ferdinand S. Topacio, who lawyers for Ms. Deguito, did not immediately reply to a text message seeking comment. He had called her indictment “a travesty of justice of the worst kind.”
Hackers in February 2016 sent fraudulent requests for almost $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, mostly intended for accounts in Manila-based RCBC.
The US central bank and intermediary banks blocked many of the transfer orders, but $81 million made it to accounts with fake names at RCBC. Most of the funds were laundered in Manila’s loosely regulated casino industry.
In January 2019, a Makati trial court found Ms. Deguito guilty of money laundering in connection with one of the world’s biggest cyber-heists in modern history.
She was sentenced to four to seven years in prison for each of the eight counts of money laundering, more than year after her indictment by government prosecutors. She was fined $109 million.
Ms. Deguito was the manager of the RCBC branch in Jupiter, Makati where a portion of the $81 million stolen by hackers from Bangladesh Bank was deposited in accounts under fictitious names.
The appellate court said the former bank manager conveniently turned a blind eye on the suspicious accounts opened for the sole purpose of receiving illegally obtained money.
It said she could not downplay her participation since she had an extensive banking career that provided her with knowledge of the bank’s processes.
“Without doubt, the prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the inward remittances credited to the Jupiter accounts on Feb. 5, 2016 were proceeds derived from hacking or crackling, an unlawful activity,” it added.
The Department of Justice cleared casino boss Kim Wong and junket operator Weikang Xu of any wrongdoing in 2017, without explaining why.
Mr. Wong returned almost $15 million of the stolen funds.
Local remittance firm Philrem Service Corp. had denied charges that it was used to launder the money. Prosecutors said the firm had escaped criminal charges after its owners showed proof that they had alerted authorities about the suspicious transactions.
RCBC was fined a record P1 billion ($18 million) by the Philippine central bank for failing to prevent the movement of the stolen money through its bank.
A top Bangladeshi investigator has said he suspected some IT technicians from the Dhaka-based bank had helped the hackers carry out the heist. — J.V.D. Ordoñez
