FORMER Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito has asked the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City to reverse its decision, which found her guilty of seven counts of money laundering.
The Makati RTC declared on January 10 that Deguito was guilty of laundering the $81 million stolen from by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016.
In her 53-page motion for reconsideration, Deguito raised three grounds in seeking her acquittal before the sala of Makati RTC Branch 149 Presiding Judge Cesar Untalan, who sentenced her to a maximum of seven years in prison for each count of money laundering.
Deguito insisted that Judge Untalan misunderstood the meaning of a money, laundering offense under the law, misappreciated the facts and the evidence, and imposed the wrong penalty on her.
The former RCBC manager pointed out to Section 4 (f) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) which states: “Money laundering is committed by any person who, knowing that any monetary instrument or property represents, involves or relates to the proceeds of any unlawful activity…performs or fails to perform any act as a result of which he facilitates the offense of money laundering.”
Deguito said, however, that none of these elements of money laundering was present in the case against her.
When the trial court held that she should be made criminally liable for violation of the Amla law, she said it could be referring to accounts which were opened in the names of Michael Cruz, Jessie Christopher Lagrosa, Alfred Vergara and Enrico Vasquez in 2015.
But, she pointed out that there was no monetary instrument or property and no proceeds of any against her.
The court, according to Deguito, even admitted that from 2015 since the accounts were opened, there were no transactions recorded in the said bank accounts.
“Without the existence of an unlawful activity, its proceeds and a monetary instrument or property that represents, involves or relates to such proceeds, then there can be no knowledge of these facts, as well. Clearly, no money-laundering offense was committed when the accounts were opened in May 2015,” she said.
With regard to accusation that she facilitated the withdrawals and deposits of certain amounts of money from February 5, 2016, and February 9, 2016, despite knowing that each amount is a portion of the $81 million related to the proceeds of unlawful activity, Deguito explained that just because the amounts were considered “covered transactions” under Republic Act (RA) 9160 as they exceeded P500,000, it does not automatically mean that they came from unlawful activity.
“But a transaction does not become a violation of RA 9160, as amended, by the mere fact of it being a ‘covered transaction.’ The law, to be sure, does not say this. Instead, it is the failure to report a covered transaction to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that constitutes a money laundering offense,” she said.
Deguito also denied the court’s findings that she had full and prior knowledge of the illegal source of the funds.
“This conclusion, however, was not based on direct proof of the element of knowledge, as the prosecution failed to present any. Instead, it was only presumed by the Honorable Court from the alleged failure of accused to do what the Honorable Court believes she should have done,” the accused said.
Deguito also claimed that she verified the validity of the remittances and their sources.
Contrary to the ruling, Deguito said she has no authority to stop the withdrawal of such huge amounts.
“Another reason why the accused could not have stopped the transactions was because RCBC higher-ups actually put a hold on the transactions, but then lifted the hold after determining that the remittances were valid,” she noted.
In its January 10 decision, the Makati RTC held that Deguito’s claim that she has nothing to do with the transactions was “a complete lie.”
Aside from the prison term, Deguito was ordered to pay a fine corresponding to not more than 200 percent of the value of the laundered money, which would amount to almost $110 million.
In convicting Deguito, the court gave weight to the testimony of AMLC secretariat officer Rafael Echaluse who investigated the case.
Echaluse claimed that Deguito, then the RCBC-Jupiter branch manager, facilitated the opening of several fictitious accounts where the stolen money from Bangladesh was deposited.
It was also Deguito who facilitated the withdrawals of the money from the said accounts to the dollar accounts of businessman William Go, who denied opening a dollar account at RCBC and accused Deguito of opening the accounts without his knowledge.