INDICTMENT OF RCBC MANAGER OVER BB HIEST
Dhaka for speedy trial
The Bangladeshi envoy to Manila has welcomed reports that the Justice Department will indict former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Deguito and the owners of shuttered money changer Philrem Corporation for money laundering due to last years $81-million cyberheist from Bangladesh Bank, reports Philippines daily the Enquirer.
In a text message to the Inquirer, Ambassador Asad Alam Siam also urged the government on Monday to speed up the judicial process to help deter future crimes of this nature.
We welcome todays developments. We had been eagerly waiting that the legal process both with the civil and criminal cases begins soonest possible, Siam said. We urge that the judicial process of these and future cases regarding the heist at the courts will be put on fast track as cases of serious public interest since it involves our public money.
It was reported by ABS-CBN News on Monday afternoon that the Department of Justice resolved to indict several individuals accused of participation in the crime for violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Government probers said it found probable cause to charge Deguito; Philrem owners Michael and Salud Bautista; Philrem official Anthony Pelejo; and several John Does behind the fictitious RCBC accounts Michael Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher M. Lagrosas, Alfred Santos Vergara and Enrico Teodoro Vasquez which were used to launder the stolen funds.
