Philippine courts now have opens on their dockets as two very high profile situations will not go to trial.
Al Argosino and Michael Robles, both former commissioners for the Philippines Bureau of Investigation, have withdrawn a complaint they lodged against Macau junket operator Jack Lam due to “mistaken assumption or interpretation of facts and circumstances,” according to reports.
In December, Argosino and Robles accused the gaming titan and Jimei Group owner of offering them PHP50 million (US$980,000) to release more than 1,000 illegal Chinese workers at Lam’s Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Pampanga. The property was operated by Jimei Group at the time and also allegedly ran an illegal online casino.
Lam’s attorney, Raymond Fortun, says the accusers also withdrew allegations that Lam violated anti-wiretapping laws. The men “decided to refrain from pursuing the instant case, now and in the future,” the mouthpiece added.
In the aftermath of the scandal, President Rodrigo Duterte fired Argosino and Robles, intimating that they extorted the money from Lam. And the casino operator fled the country.
Lam, Argosino and Robles are all still facing another complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in January for bribery, graft and violation of a decree that prohibits public officials from receiving gifts and private persons from giving them, reported the Asia Gaming Brief.
And affirming an earlier decision, Philippine Department of Justice prosecutors said they will not pursue criminal charges filed by the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council against casino official Kim Wong and junket operator Xu Weikang “for insufficiency of evidence.” The 2016 case involved a hacker theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank by way of an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The stolen money was split among four accounts at a Rizal Commercial Banking Corp branch in Makati, Metro Manila. The funds later were moved to Philippine casinos, where they seemingly disappeared. Wong, president and general manager of Philippine casino operator Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company Ltd, returned $15 million of the stolen money to Bangladesh in February.
At a special Senate hearing on the cyber heist, Wong claimed he had no knowledge of nor did he participate in directing the stolen funds to the Philippines. Some of the money turned up at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Manila, owned by Leisure and Resorts World Corp; and Solaire Resort and Casino in Entertainment City, operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp.
Management at those casinos apparently were not involved in the allegedly illegal transfers nor had knowledge of them.
Wong said he received $8.9 million from a Chinese gambler as payment for his casino losses. Those funds reportedly were part of the money stolen from the Bangladesh central bank accounts.
In its original complaint, the Anti-Money Laundering Council stated Xu and Wong took the money knowing it was “proceeds of unlawful activities.” Although the recent Department of Justice ruling let Xu and Wong off the hook, it reaffirmed money laundering charges against a former RCBC bank manager for her part in the cyber heist, and against four unidentified persons who created the phony RCBC bank accounts.
The Philippine central bank fined RCBC $19.64 million for failing to prevent the movement of the stolen money through its bank.
