The Anti-Money Laundering Council plans to file a forfeiture case against remittance company PhilRem Service Corp. to seize assets and properties believed connected to the $81-million money laundering scam in February this year.
Senate investigations earlier found out that PhilRem was one of the conduits in the case that resulted in Bank of Bangladesh losing $81 million of its fund deposited with the New York Federal Reserve.
“Definitely we will file cases against them. A criminal case has already been filed… We will also file a forfeiture case,” AMLC executive director Julia Bacay-Abad said in an interview.
“Definitely we will run after them,” she said, adding the subject of the forfeiture case would be properties and assets connected to the $81-million bank heist.
In a civil forfeiture case, the government seizes assets with evidence that dirty money had been used. The owner of the assets has the right to contest the case and must prove that the assets came from clean money.
Abad, however, was unsure if the executives of PhilRem were still in the country. She said this would not prevent AMLC from filing a forfeiture case.
The stolen funds entered the country’s financial system in February through an RCBC branch on Jupiter Street in Makati City. Investigations found out that the funds went through three layers of highly protected financial institutions: the New York Federal Reserve, Swift system and the three global banks that eventually made the remittance.
The Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas cancelled the registration of PhilRem in June due to significant violations of Section 4511N of the Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions in connection with the bank heist.
Bacay also said AMLC was awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court on a petition for review and certiorari, after a lower court lifted a freeze order on the frozen account in Solaire.
“The issue there is whether or not the lifting of the freeze order is correct or not, whether or not the frozen account is indeed related to an unlawful activity,” Abad said.
“Now we are awaiting for the decision of the SC. That issue must be resolved before we can file a civil forfeiture case regarding that money,” she said.
She said if the Supreme Court decided that the agency could not run after the bank account in Solaire, AMLC could also run after the Chinese casino players to whom the dirty money was eventually transferred.
She said these individuals benefited from the stolen funds, because they played around $29 million in the casinos.
Part of the $81 million was already recovered by Bank of Bangladesh in early November. Officials in Manila handed over $15 million to the bank, and Ambassador John Gomes received the fund on its behalf.
A court in September ruled that Bangladesh Bank was the rightful owner of around $15 million surrendered by casino boss Kim Wong and his Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company.
Last week, AMLC filed before the Department of Justice money laundering charges against six other officials of RCBC in connection with the scam.
Bangko Sentral also imposed a P1-billion penalty on RCBC for its involvement in the scam.