- Former RCBC branch manager Maia Santos Deguito admitted to lying on who gave her the instructions to transfer the stolen $ 81-M funds
- Deguito claimed she actually received the instructions from controversial junket operator Kim Wong
- RCBC also blamed Deguito and her assistant branch manager for not acting immediately on the suspicious transaction report (STR)
MANILA, Philippines – Former Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) branch manager Maia Santos Deguito admitted to lying at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation on who gave her the instruction to allow the transfer of $ 81-M stolen funds.
At the resumption of the ongoing Senate probe on Tuesday, April 19, Deguito said she was forced to lie to protect the personalities involved in the transaction which saw the transfer of the stolen money from the four accounts at RCBC Jupiter Branch in Makati to a single account in the same bank.
Grilled by Senator Sergio Osmeña, the embattled bank manager finally admitted it was junket operator Kim Wong who gave the instruction to withdraw the funds from the accounts of Michael Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher Lagrosas, Enrico Teodoro Vasquez and Alfred Santos Vergara to the account of businessman William Go.
“During the time that I answered the show-cause [memo] I wasn’t prepared to name the personalities behind those referred accounts. So that’s what my lawyers had advised me.” Deguito responded to Osmeña’s questioning on why he had to lie.
She was referring to her response to the show-cause memo from the bank read by RCBC’s Legal and Regulatory Group head Atty. Macel Fernandez Estavillo.
Lagrosas is Kim Wong
In her earlier statement to RCBC, Deguito said it was a certain Jessie Christopher Lagrosas who instructed her to transfer the stolen money. Apparently, Lagrosas is another alias used by Wong.
“When she [Estavillo] speaks of Mr. Lagrosas, I’m speaking of Mr. Kim Wong,” Deguito confessed.
She also admitted meeting the four account holders for whom Wong allegedly acted as their authorized representative to inquire balances and give instructions.”
“You did not want to name Mr. Kim Wong? That’s what you’re saying? And you’d lie and say it was Mr. Lagrosas, who gave you the order,” Osmeña asked Deguito, to which the latter replied in the affirmative, confirming that it was Wong, and not Lagrosas who gave her the instructions.
Suspicious transactions
At the Senate probe, RCBC also blamed Deguito and her assistant branch manager, Angela Torres, for not filing suspicious transaction report (STR) immediately.
RCBC Treasury Group head Raul Tan said it took the Jupiter branch 4 days to file the STR which the latter received from the main office on February 5.
But Torres claimed the bank’s filing system was offline on February 9, during which she supposedly tried to file the STR. The STR was eventually filed on February 10.
However, Estavillo contended it was clear that Deguito first decided to empty the accounts before filing the STR.
According to RCBC officials, the recent scandal has prompted them to review their internal procedure to ensure that the bank will have to act faster on suspicious transactions.
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