RCBC treasurer quits; Philrem faces tax raps

MANILA, Philippines - The treasurer of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has resigned amid investigations into the bank’s possible role in the laundering of $81 million stolen from Bangladesh.

The resignation of RCBC treasurer and executive vice president Raul Victor Tan took effect Wednesday, said senior vice president and corporate information officer Ma. Christina Alvarez in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Tan headed the bank’s Treasury Group and the Retail Banking Group. 

Meanwhile, tax charges have been filed against a remittance firm that facilitated the funds’ transfer to the bank.

Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares said they have filed tax evasion charges against Philrem for the latter’s P35.61-million unpaid taxes from 2005 to 2014.

“RCBC’s internal investigation had previously cleared Mr. Raul Tan of any participation in or breach of banking policies with respect to the $81-million money laundering issue,” the bank said in a statement.

“The bank thanked him for his valuable services and wished him well in his future endeavors,” Alvarez said.

The board appointed Carlos Cesar Mercado as acting treasurer.

The bank – owned by taipan Alfonso Yuchengco – fired RCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito and senior customer representative officer Angela Torres last March 22 for violating bank policies and procedures and falsification of commercial documents when they facilitated the opening of accounts to accommodate the $81 million.

RCBC corporate secretary and board director Macel Fernandez-Estavillo said Deguito’s admission to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that she lied to the bank’s head office to get the transaction approved clearly shows that RCBC higher-ups had no involvement in the scandal. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is also investigating the case.

“Out of decency and honor, and despite his lack of involvement in the same, he tendered his resignation because of command responsibility, as Deguito – whose culpability has been clearly and convincingly established – was under him,” Estavillo said, referring to Tan.

She added the bank’s board of directors turned down Tan’s earlier resignation offer.

RCBC president Lorenzo Tan went on leave last March 23 after he was dragged into the issue by Deguito. Yuchengo’s daughter Helen Yuchengco-Dee, who is chairman of RCBC, took over the bank’s day to day operations together with a management team led by vice chairman Cesar Virata and Armando Medina.

As head of the investment management team, RCBC said Tan was instrumental in growing treasury trading revenues to historic highs, which peaked at over P6 billion in 2012.

Tan, as head of the Retail Banking Group, also helped raise low cost deposits of the retail bank at an average of 24 percent per annum, RCBC said.

Booked consumer loan referrals, it added, moved up by 35 percent per year, and bancassurance sales reached P1.2 billion in 2015, RCBC said in a statement.

Waiver of secrecy

With her former employers in RCBC intent on pinning her down for the laundering scandal, Deguito said she is willing to open her bank accounts for scrutiny to prove she earned nothing from handling the $81 million.

“I am willing to sign a bank deposit secrecy waiver so that my accounts can be examined. People suspect I earned something from this, pero wala akong kinita (but I earned nothing),” she told the Pandesal forum at the Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City yesterday.

She had earlier told senators that the accounts were opened in May 2015 by depositors referred to her by casino junket operator Kim Wong during a meeting at the Midas Hotel and Casino on Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City. On Feb. 5, she said Wong repeatedly inquired about the remittances.

Senators have said she is a key player in the $81-million money laundering scandal.

In the forum, Deguito insisted Wong did not offer her money for handling the transactions of the four account holders referred to her – Michael Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher Lagrosas, Alfred Santos Vergara and Enrico Teodoro Vasquez.

An internal RCBC investigation has found the accounts to be bogus, having been opened with the supposed depositors using fake addresses and identification documents. The account holders could not be located and none of them has surfaced.

In the same forum, Deguito’s legal counsel Ferdinand Topacio also presented documents from the RCBC head office clearing the remittance of $81 million into five bank accounts.

Supposedly upon the instruction of Wong, the $81 million was transferred to the account of businessman William Go in the same Jupiter branch, then to remittance firm Philrem, then to Wong, Solaire and Midas for the account of Chinese client-gamblers.

Go has denied opening US dollar and peso accounts in the Jupiter branch. An RCBC internal probe found Go’s signatures on the account opening forms and a withdrawal slip for P20 million to be forged.

Deguito admitted that she “erred” in telling RCBC investigators that it was Lagrosas who instructed her to transfer his dollar remittance to the Go account.

“I’m sorry, but it was Wong actually. However, at that time, I could not name Kim Wong because I did not know how big and deep this thing was. I had to point to the depositor,” she said. Senators had accused her of lying for her conflicting statements on the transaction.

The dismissed RCBC branch manager also insisted her former bosses had given her the green light to accept the $81 million into her branch.

Falsehood

Reacting to Deguito’s claim, Estavillo said “this is false,” as she cited the dismissed branch manager’s own admission earlier that the accounts were credited automatically without need for any approval.

Bank records, Estavillo said, showed that at the end of the banking day of Feb. 5, a hold advisory from the Operations Group was lifted when Deguito explained that the account holders were long-standing clients, and that the amounts were expected, and with KYC (know your client) documents in order.

In her letter to RCBC head office, Deguito claimed to have met the account holders and spoken repeatedly with Lagrosas to get his instructions.

Deguito later admitted she was only getting instructions from Wong.  A supposed SSS ID of Lagrosas shows the face of one Adrian Yujuico.

Two security guards and two branch officers earlier said in affidavits that Deguito loaded P20 million in cash in her white Jazz car and not in Go’s gray Lexus SUV as she and Torres had claimed. RCBC is eyeing perjury charges against Deguito and Torres.

Tax case vs Philrem

At the BIR, Henares said they are seeking P35.61 million worth of unpaid taxes, plus surcharge and interest, from Philrem, which they accuse of  “willful” non-payment of gross receipts and percentage taxes from 2005 to 2014.

Also sued were Philrem president Salud Bautista and treasurer Michael Bautista for violations of Sections 254, 255 and 258 of the National Internal Revenue Code.

“The gross failure of Philrem to register, declare and pay the (gross receipt tax) showed a clear intent and purpose on its part to evade the payment of the correct amount of taxes,” the BIR said in a statement.

“Further, its failure to update its registration with the BIR made it liable for unlawful pursuit of business,” it added.

Last week, Henares told a Senate inquiry about her discovery that Philrem was not registered as a remittance company with the agency, but as a land transportation firm.

She said Philrem amended its Articles of Incorporation at the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005, but failed to amend its tax records with the bureau.

“Despite the change in its primary purpose, it did not update its registration with the BIR,” the statement said.

Regulators are still probing how stolen funds from the account of Bangladesh Bank in the New York Federal Reserve found their way to the Philippines last February.

Philrem has admitted before senators having exchanged and remitted the entire $81 million to RCBC’s Jupiter Street branch in Makati City.– With Jess Diaz, Iris Gonzales, Ted Torres