Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines Maj. Gen. John Gomes often finds himself either near the center of a controversy or the main subject of dispute.
Mr. Gomes is the same diplomat who has been pestering local authorities over the recovery of $81 million stolen from Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the south Asian country. He has publicly demanded the return of the money that used to form part of Bangladesh Bank’s foreign reserves, after a cyber heist that rocked the Philippine banking system in February this year.
But Mr. Gomes faces a bigger worry in the Philippines after an embassy staff sued him for illegal dismissal and requested then-President Beningno Aquino III to treat him persona non grata for insulting and degrading Filipinos.
Alona Contridas has worked for Bangladesh Embassy for 17 years as a messenger until her services were terminated in 2014. Ms. Contridas sued the embassy before the Department of Labor and Employment, saying her dismissal violated the labor law.
She also wrote then foreign affairs secretary Alberto del Rosario on March 18, 2014 detailing her travails while employed with the embassy, with most of her complaint incorporated in the legal case she filed with the National Labor Relations Commission in 2014.
Ms. Contridas lodged the case with the Labor Department since the embassy enjoys no immunity from labor suit. She denied the charges of negligence of duty and her violation of embassy policies.
Ms. Contridas as the embassy messenger was made to perform other duties. Mr. Gomes asked her to “dishwash and cook, plus do other janitorial works” in the embassy. She was asked to perform other jobs because the cleaner or utility worker of the embassy works at the envoy’s residence.
“The truth of the matter is that the present Ambassador subjects her and other Filipino staff to repeated harassments. The Ambassador hates Filipino citizens,” Contridas’ complaint said.
“The Ambasaddor has been repeatedly telling the staff of the embassy that they should not believe Filipinos because 50% of Filipinos are prostitutes and they are called entertainment… that tourism in the Philippines increases due to sex entertainment… [and] that Filipinos are thief…,” her complaint stated.
“As to her, whenever [Contridas] commits trivial mistakes, the ambassador yells at her and he makes the trivial mistakes a big issue. He tells her that she ought to resign before he dismisses her from service since she is already old for her job and he can immedately replace her with a young one who can clean the whole embassy…,” the complaint said.
“The ambassador has been repeatedly uttering unpleasant and degrading words against her like ‘stupid lady’ [and] ‘dirty woman’ even in the presence of his visitors or guests in the embassy, to her humiliation.”
Ms. Contridas has reported other “anomalies” in the embassy. She recalled a certain Maria Angela Larobis, who was employed by the embassy as a cleaner from Feb. 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2013. Larobis, however, did not work in the embassy but in the residence of Mr. Gomes as his personal cook, house cleaner and dishwasher without knowing that her salary came from the money of the Bangladesh Embassy.
“Worse [she] receives a salary of P15,000 but Ambassador Gomes gives Maria Angela Larobis only P12,000 per month…,” the complaint alleged.
Aborted investigation
Mr. Gomes, meanwhile, should urge his central bank to resume its aborted investigation into the $81-million cyber heist, instead of just pressing the Philippine Senate to re-open its inquiry.
“They stopped their investigation and then their ambassador here, John Gomes, started claiming it was an outside job. But their finance minister said it was an inside job,” said Thea Daep, RCBC external legal counsel.
Daep questioned BB’s decision not to investigate and renew the contract of a US-based investigating company.
“Why don’t they want to know the truth? Before they ask for help from the Philippine government, it is incumbent upon them to submit a full report to the Philippine government, detailing what happened in Bangladesh,” she said.
She recounted the ordeal of a Bangladeshi expert who pointed out the weaknesses of BB after the heist. The expert suddenly disappeared and was found days later in a daze and apparently mentally challenged.
“Around March, the finance minister of Bangladesh told media he was sure it was an inside job, and the Bank of Bangladesh Governor and two deputies resigned shortly thereafter. To us, these are clear indications of guilt and negligence,” Daep added.
The Philippine banking heist was not the first for Bangladesh. A Dhaka-based journalist wrote in the New York Times on April 11, 2016 that the cyber scam at the Federal Reserve “pales in comparison with the routine plunder of Bangladesh’s financial system, including by some of its purported guardians.”
“Part of the explanation for this is poor governance by the banks’ boards, but the main culprit is the country’s culture of patronage,” wrote Joseph Allchin.
“Some $565 million in asssets are said to have been looted from the state-owned BASIC Bank between 2009 and 2012, yet the scam’s suspected mastermind, a former chairman of the bank, wasn’t troubled by the anticorruption commission investigating the fraud, reportedly thanks to his political connections. Banking in Bangladesh is beholden to the politicians,” he said.
E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com or business@thestandard.com.ph