The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Jerry Maglunog
The Bangladeshi government may be in for a big disappointment over the amount the Philippines will surrender from what has so far been recovered of the $81 million that hackers stole from the Bangladesh Bank’s deposits in New York and laundered in the country’s casinos through the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
The petition of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for civil forfeiture with the courts showed that only P466 million, or 12.3 percent of the peso equivalent (P3.8 billion) of the stolen American dollars, would be turned over to Bangladesh.
Of the amount, P455.89 million has already been surrendered by junket casino operator Kim Wong to the AMLC “for safekeeping.”
A total of P10.223 million more was the subject of a provisional asset preservation order (Papo) and is deposited in the accounts Wong and his companies, Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co. Ltd. and Centurytex Trading, which are deposited in accounts at RCBC and the Philippine National Bank (PNB).
The amount was surrendered by Wong through the efforts of the Senate committee on banks and financial institutions, which is currently hearing the case.
The Senate is targeting the surrender of a substantial part of the $81-million Bangladeshi funds before President Aquino steps down on June 30, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, one of the Senate investigators, said.
“I am not saying that money stolen in minutes should be returned in minutes. There’s a process to be followed but it shouldn’t take several long months either,” he said.
“Last April 18, Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co., through its lawyer, turned over P200 million to the AMLC for safekeeping, to be returned to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” AMLC Executive Director Julia Abad told Senate probers.
The amount was said to be part of the stolen Bangladeshi funds that were given to Wong as debt payment by another casino junket operator, identified as Gao Shushua.
Republic Act 10365, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla), requires that monies seized from laundering activities can only be disposed of via civil forfeiture.
The law requires the AMLC to file with the appropriate court through the Office of the Solicitor General, a verified petition for forfeiture, and the Rules of Court on Civil Forfeiture shall apply.
After the court issues an order of forfeiture, any person claiming an interest on the seized funds may appeal that the portions he is claiming to be lawfully his be excluded.
“That should be our national deadline (June 30). Before President Aquino returns to private life, we must see to it that all the recoverable money from that heist has been returned to its rightful owner,” Recto said.
The Senate investigation and search for the bulk of the stolen amount had focused on the remittance center Philrem Service Corp., which was allegedly used to deliver the money to the perceived money-laundering destinations.
“Indications are clear that it (Philrem) had a major role as channel or conduit to the illegal activity,” said a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) source who asked not to be identified.
The source said RCBC could have only been “used,” but added this apparently cannot be said of the remittance center.
In the last hearing, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, also one of the probers, threatened to cite in contempt an official of Philrem for refusing to reveal the name of its accountant involved in the money-laundering scandal, said to be the largest so far.
Osmeña was about to call for the suspension of the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee when he remembered the committee’s request for Philrem to reveal the name of its accountant.
Meanwhile, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. reiterated his request for the Senate to include in the proposed amendments to the BSP law stiffer penalty for any BSP-supervised institution that would be found involved in money laundering
Currently, the maximum penalty for involvement is P30,000 per day.
“With respect to the BSP’s charter, our penalties are limited by law, that is, P30,000 maximum per day or per transaction. So that is assessed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the circumstances of the situation,” Espenilla said in an earlier hearing last week.
In this regard, Espenilla, also the chairman of the AMLC, hinted last week that the P30,000-per-day or per-transaction penalty would likely be imposed on RCBC as penalty for allowing itself to be used as a conduit for the $81 million.