6 Filipinos charged over BB cyberheist

An anti-money laundering body of the Philippines has filed charges against five officials of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) and a former treasurer who "wilfully ignored" suspicious activity that led to $81 million vanishing after a heist on Bangladesh's central bank.

In a 97-page complaint filed to the justice ministry on November 18, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said former RCBC treasurer Raul Tan, three retail banking officials, and two workers at the branch where cash was withdrawn were guilty of money laundering because they should have noticed something was wrong and intervened immediately.

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"Tan was in a position to order enhanced due diligence based on the red flags," read the complaint, according to a Reuters report.

"Tan could have convened the anti-money laundering committee to act on these red flags," the AMLC said, adding Tan "wilfully ignored them and failed to conduct thorough investigation" as required by law and the bank's regulations.

Tan's actions showed he had "knowledge that the funds transacted represented the proceeds of an unlawful activity", it said.

Tan, brother of National Treasurer Roberto B Tan, resigned from RCBC last April, at the height of a Senate investigation on the money laundering scandal.

Other officials who were charged are: Ismael S Reyes, Brigitte R Capiña, Nestor O Pineda, Romualdo S Agarrado and Angela Ruth S Torres.

At the time of the money laundering transaction, Reyes was national sales director of RCBC's retail banking group; Capiña was retail banking group regional sales director; Pineda was district sales director; Agarrado was customer service head of RCBC Jupiter branch's business center; and Torres was senior customer relations officer at the Jupiter business center.

Alleged omissions made by Reyes, Capiña, Pineda, Agarrado and Torres were detailed in the complaint, reported The Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In a statement Tuesday, RCBC said its own probe had found that no official from the head office was involved in the transaction, which was initiated and carried out by the Jupiter branch.

“We welcome the charges as an opportunity to conclusively prove that our executives acted properly and had no knowledge or participation in any money laundering. We are confident that the cases filed against these RCBC officers will be dismissed,” RCBC CEO Gil A Buenaventura said.

Lorenzo V Tan, who was RCBC president at the time of the cyber theft, resigned in May.

Unknown cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank in February in what was one of the biggest bank heists ever.

They succeeded in transferring some $81 million via an account at the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at the Jupiter branch.

Most of the cash was quickly withdrawn and laundered through multiple channels.

On November 11, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) received $15.25 million from the AMLC, nine months after hackers stole the money.

The rest of the funds changed hands several times and vanished in the Philippines casino industry, reported Reuters.

So far, the AMLC has accounted for $60 million of the stolen money. Of them, $15 million has been traced to RCBC client, casino owner and agent Kim Wong, $28 million to Solaire Casino and $17 million is believed to be with Filipino remittance company Philrem, which the latter has denied.

But the remaining $21 million is yet to be traced.

According to a probe carried out by a three-member team led by former BB governor Mohammed Farashuddin, at least $54 million of the $81 million that ended up in the Philippines could be recovered.

A high-powered Bangladesh delegation, including Law Minister Anisul Huq and BB Governor Fazle Kabir, is scheduled to meet senior Philippines officials on November 28 to discuss further recovery.

No arrests have been made despite investigations by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and authorities in the Philippines.

RCBC client Wong had admitted during the Philippines Senate inquiry that he received millions of the loot from two Chinese gamblers but did not know it was stolen.

He denies involvement in the heist and has returned $15 million of around $35 million he said he received.