When mystery hackers launched a stunning raid on Bangladesh’s foreign reserves, a plot worthy of a John le Carre spy novel was sparked in the Philippines, exposing the Southeast Asian nation as a haven for “dirty” money.
The US$81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank’s US accounts last month was immediately sent via electronic transfer to the Philippines, with the thieves deliberately targeting their laundering location.
The Philippines has some of the world’s strictest bank secrecy laws to protect account holders, while its casinos are exempt from rules aimed at preventing money laundering.
Photo: AP
“The Philippines is very attractive [for dirty money] because our laws have gaping holes. It’s easy to launder money here,” said Philippine Senator Sergio Osmena, who is pushing for stronger anti-money laundering laws.
Still, if the thieves were to get away with their audacious heist, the money had to be moved quickly through the banking system and into the casinos — and it was.
Authorities took four days to order a recall of the money.
However, by then it had vanished — leaving in its place a tale of death threats, bribes, shady business figures and a bank manager who could be the villain or a victim.
“I did not do anything wrong. If this is a nightmare, I want to wake up now,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp bank manager Maia Santos-Deguito told ABS-CBN television this week after authorities stopped her at Manila airport from trying to leave the country.
“I live every day in fear,” she said.
With authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere bamboozled over who masterminded the cyberheist, Deguito’s role as manager of the bank that accepted and shifted the money has come under intense scrutiny.
She has accused bank president Lorenzo Tan (洛倫佐陳) of ordering her to move the money.
He has fiercely denied the accusations.
Philippine senators who launched an inquiry this week into the affair are yet to determine whether she was a scapegoat or not, but are convinced she was not the mastermind.
“It’s a big operation. This could not have been done out of the Philippines alone,” Senator Ralph Recto said.
The Philippine Senate inquiry and another probe by the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council have hit several major hurdles, including a security camera at the bank not working when the money was shifted.
Accusations and counter-accusations between Deguito and Rizal Commercial Banking management have further confused investigators.
A final roadblock has emerged at the casinos, with the money apparently vanishing in mountains of gambling chips and mysterious middlemen.
“Our money trail ended at the casinos,” council deputy director Julia Abad told senators on Tuesday.
On Feb. 5, the same day Bangladesh Bank was hacked, the money was sent electronically to four accounts in Deguito’s Rizal Commercial Banking branch in the financial capital of Makati, Metro Manila, according to testimony to the Senate inquiry.
After that, the bulk of the money was transferred into accounts of a local ethnic Chinese businessman, William Go (威廉吳), who has since protested his innocence.
He said his signature was forged to set up the accounts.
From there, the money was briefly held by Philrem, a foreign-exchange brokerage.
Philrem president Salud Bautista told the Senate inquiry US$30 million went to a man named Weikang Xu.
He was described as a casino junket operator but senators have said they know little more about him other than he is of Chinese origin.
The anti-money laundering council said another US$29 million ended up in Solaire, a casino on a glittering Manila bayside strip that the Philippines hopes will become one of the world’s biggest gambling destinations.
That money was exchanged into chips, but could only be turned back into cash after being played in the casino, its management told the Senate inquiry.
Another US$21 million was sent to Eastern Hawaii Leisure, which runs a sparsely furnished casino with Chinese-only television in Santa Ana, a sleepy town in the far northern Philippines, according to the council.
Osmena said the case was likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“This could have happened hundreds of times already,” he said.
“We discovered this one only because someone complained. But normally, if a drug dealer from Burma [Myanmar] or China would send money here, no one would complain,” he said.
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