Thus, the regional court sentenced Maia Deguito, a former branch manager at Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), to a jail term ranging from 32 to 56 years, with each count carrying four to seven years. Moreover, she was ordered to pay a total fine of about USD 109 million.
In February 2016, unknown criminals used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal over USD 81 million from the Bangladeshs central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The money was sent to accounts at a branch of RCBC in Manila then headed by Deguito, before it disappeared into the casino industry in the Philippines, according to Reuters.
Deguito facilitated and coordinated and corroborated in the execution and implementation of the illegal bank transactions, the court added. RCBC was fined USD 19.17 million by the Philippine central bank in August 2016 for its failure to prevent the movement of the stolen money through the bank. A former treasurer of RCBC and five other workers at the branch where the cash was withdrawn face money laundering charges.
The branch manager remains free, however, as bail she posted earlier stays in effect until the conviction becomes final, one of her lawyers, Joaquin Hizon, told Reuters.
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