Maia Deguito admits lying to RCBC

MANILA, Philippines – Dismissed Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Santos Deguito on Tuesday admitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that she lied in her reply to the bank’s show cause memo.

Deguito, alleged facilitator of the transfer of the $81 million that suspiciously went through the country’s financial system including local casinos to five accounts in her branch on Jupiter Street in Makati City, said it was casino junket operator Kam Sin “Kim” Wong who instructed her to transfer the funds to William Go’s account when asked by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III. However, Wong denied Deguito’s claims.

“Wala ako po alam diyan,” Wong replied.

During the course of the Senate probe on the $81 million banking heist, Deguito also said Go opened the account and Wong served as the authorized representative having been the referrer of the five account holders namely Michael Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher M. Lagrosas, Alfred Santos Vergara, Enrico Teodoro Vasquez, and Go. Deguito said Go opened the account by sending his signature to the bank and not personally signing it.

“Si Mr. Wong acted as their authorized representative to inquire balances and instruct me [to wait] for further instructions,” Deguito claimed.

On the other hand, head of the legal and regulatory affairs of RCBC Maria Cecilia “Macel” Fernandez-Estavillo said Deguito was contradicting her earlier statement in the show cause memo that it was one of the account holders, Lagrosas who instructed her.

“It's not allowed. There are no documents to support what she's saying and in fact your honor in her letter to us, she categorically told us that it was Mr. Lagrosas himself who gave her instructions on the transfer of funds to William Go. So she's contradicting her own written statement to the bank,” Estavillo stated.

The former bank manager responded that she was only prompted to cover Wong’s name as she was not ready to name personalities during the time that the show cause memo was released.

“During that time, it was a show cause memo that she was mentioning. Nung panahon po na ‘yun hindi pa po ako handang magsalita kung sino po yung mga referrer ng mga accounts, sino ba yung mga tao na nakausap ko, kaya po naging ganun yung naging advice ng abogado,” Deguito disclosed.

Osmeña questioned her until Deguito admitted that she lied to cover names of personalities.

“If you will consider that lying, yes I would acknowledge,” Deguito said.

Deguito also disclosed that she referred the remitting company Philrem Service Corp. to Wong.

The Senate hearing on the $81 million allegedly stolen from the central bank of Bangladesh will resume for its seventh session on April 26, Tuesday.