- Former RCBC branch manager Maia Santos Deguito insisted on her innocence at the resumption of the Senate hearing
- She said her only mistake is, perhaps, trusting and following the instructions of RCBC president Lorenzo Tan
- She also maintained she is merely a ‘pawn’ and not the ‘grandmaster’ in the multi-million electronic heist
MANILA, Philippines – At the resumption of the ongoing Senate probe on the alleged $ 81-M money laundering that involves Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), former branch manager Maia Santos Deguito had to swear on her children’s name just to profess her innocence in the multi-million electronic heist.
Deguito maintained she has no knowledge of the conspiracy to launder the $ 81-M which was stolen from the New York federal reserve of the Bangladeshi central bank in February through RCBC and into local casinos.
Similarly, she admitted her only mistake, perhaps, if any, is to trust and follow RCBC president Lorenzo Tan whom she alleged to have instructed her to ‘take care’ of his friend.
“If there is a conspiracy, as some honorable senators have publicly stated, I have no knowledge of it. If I had made mistakes, [that is] that I believe and trusted the bank President Mr. Lorenzo Tan,” Deguito told members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday, March 5.
She also denied personally receiving money from the transactions, contrary to the claims of Filipino-Chinese businessman Kim Wong and a bank officer who earlier testified at the Senate.
“In the name of my children, I did not get a single cent,” The Philippine Star quoted Deguito as saying.
A pawn, not the grandmaster
Deguito also insisted she is merely a working mother who works hard to provide for her family along with her husband. She maintained she is merely a pawn in the “high stakes game of chess played by giants in international banking and high finance.”
“All I wanted was to advance my career, boost my performance as a bank manager, and together with my husband, help provide for my family. These are legitimate goals of every working mother,” Deguito said; reading from a prepared statement.
The beleaguered bank manager urged the Senator to look somewhere else if they are searching for the grandmaster in the scandal that has been labelled “the biggest bank heist in the history of the world.”
“If this committee is looking for the “grandmaster,” it is not me. The line runs much higher and involved much more clout and authority than a simple bank manager with modest capabilities has,” she added.
Deguito also apologized to the senators for skipping the last Senate hearing where Kim Wong gave his own testimony for the first time.
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