2 more criminal complaints against Deguito, Torres to be filed ‘very soon’

MANILA, Philippines — Two more criminal complaints for falsifying documents will be filed against Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Jupiter-Makati branch manager Maia-Santos Deguito and senior customer relations officer Andrea Ruth Torres “very soon.”

Filipino-Chinese businessman William So Go is set to file on Tuesday, March 22, two more criminal complaints against Deguito and Torres for “issuing fake identification cards and forging signature in two separate bank opening documents,” Go’s legal counsel Ramon Esguerra told Rappler in a phone interview.

“The duo falsified the bank opening documents for the purported peso and dollar accounts of Go with RCBC Jupiter branch. The signatures appearing thereon supposedly of Mr. Go were forged,” Esguerra said.

These supposed “fake” accounts were used as part of the laundering through the Philippines of $81 million stolen by computer hackers from the Bangladesh Bank. (READ: Timeline: Tracing the $81-M stolen fund from Bangladesh Bank)

According to his legal counsel, So Go will likely file the case before the Makati Prosecutors Office on Tuesday, March 22.

Asked how this will be different from the first complaint So Go filed on Friday, March 19, Esguerra replied: “The first one is for withdrawal slips of P20 million; while the second one is for the bank opening documents for the peso account opened in July 2014 and the third for the dollar account opened in February 2016.”

So Go used to own S&R Membership Shopping, formerly known as PriceSmart Membership Shopping.

It was on February 4 when the laundered money was consolidated and deposited in a dollar account of So Go of DBA Centurytex Trading. The account was opened on the same day.

“They just forged Mr. Go’s signatures and presented fake postal and driver’s license. What’s even funny is that the driver’s license was issued on February 5, 2016 and the photo wasn’t even Mr. Go,” Esguerra said, adding that his camp will show the fake IDs on the next Senate hearing on March 29.

So Go is the sole proprietor of brokerage Centurytex Trading, which services the importation of international garment labels such as Guess, Vans, Mango, Terranova, and US-based ice cream parlor chain Cold Stone Creamery. 

So Go said he only has a corporate account with RCBC’s TriNoma branch. (READ: RCBC to file perjury raps vs bank officer in money-laundering case)

He said, she said

In Go’s affidavit sent to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) dated March 10, the businessman said he received a phone call from “a friend” informing him that Deguito, a former branch manager of East West Bank, requested to meet him to discuss “a very important matter.”

The ex-S&R owner said it was on February 23 when Deguito revealed to him that she opened fictitious dollar and peso bank accounts for Centurytex at RCBC Jupiter without his knowledge.

So Go added that Deguito tried to bribe him with P10 million to keep his silence.

But according to Senator TG Guingona, Deguito claimed that So Go was asking for 10% kickback from the $81 million stolen money. (READ: 4 new names emerge at Senate probe into Bangladesh Bank heist)

Guingona, who heads the hearing on Bangladesh Bank heist, said the Senate blue ribbon committee is aiming “to close the chapter of William So Go during the next hearing.”

Other than the criminal charge filed by So Go, Deguito is also facing an anti-money laundering complaint.

The Senate blue ribbon committee will conduct its third hearing on the multi-million-dollar money-laundering case on March 29, Kim Wong, who was linked to past scandal, returns from a medical treatment in Singapore. — Rappler.com