Hackers made multiple, smaller deposits
Lorenzo Tan, president of the bank named in an international multimillion-dollar money laundering case has resigned amid the uproar.
According to Reuters, Tan submitted his resignation even though he has been cleared of wrongdoing in the case, in which $81 million was stolen from the central bank of Bangladesh, which is housed at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and then funneled through an RCBC branches and into several casinos in Manila, said authorities.
“I take full moral responsibility for this sad incident in the history of the bank,” said Tan in his letter of resignation. He will be succeeded by Helen Dee, chairwoman of the bank who will serve as acting president and CEO until a new president is appointed.
According to the Asian Tribune, the hackers made as many as 35 transfer orders from the account of the Bangladesh Bank over the course of a year, hoping smaller transactions would not raise a red flag. That 1 billion pesos ended in the hands of casino junket operator Kim Wong “is still a mystery” that “needs to be unraveled,” the Tribune reported. Wong claimed that part of the money was a debt payment to him from fellow junket operator Shuhua Gao, an assertion the newspaper called “disingenuous, to say the least.” Wong has since returned some of the money.
As a result of the heist, the Philippine government has started a process that will strengthen its anti-money laundering and bank secrecy laws, according to Reuters. The Department of Finance has said it will work with the country’s anti-money laundering council and central bank to add casinos to its list of entities cover by anti-money laundering laws.
