Philippines court upholds former RCBC bank manager's conviction over Bangladesh Bank cyber heist
Bangladesh has so far recovered around $18 million of the $81 million transferred to the Philippines
Philippines' Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) bank manager Maia Santos Deguito for money laundering in connection with the 2016 Bangladesh Bank cyber heist.
In the order that was promulgated on 6 February 2023, but released on Wednesday, the court dismissed Maia Santos Deguito's appeal, upholding the decision of finding her guilty of 8 counts under the country's Anti-Money Laundering Act, reports Manila Standard.
"In light of the above conclusions, there is no doubt that the prosecution was able to prove that Deguito is guilty of eight counts of violation of Section 4 (f) of RA No. 9160, as amended. Thus, the Court finds no need to further discuss the other issues raised by the parties," the Philippines' Court of Appeals said.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
In February 2016, hackers sent fraudulent requests for nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, mostly intended for accounts in the Manila-based RCBC bank.
Many of the transfer orders were blocked or reversed by the US central bank and intermediary banks, but $81 million made it to accounts with fake names at the RCBC. Most of the funds then disappeared into Manila's loosely regulated casino industry.
In January 2019, Deguito was found guilty of money laundering in connection with the $81 million cyber heist.
She was sentenced to 4 to 7 years in prison for each of the 8 counts of money laundering by the Makati Regional Trial Court, over a year after she was indicted by state prosecutors.
She was fined a total of $109 million.
Bangladesh has so far recovered around $18 million of the $81 million transferred to the Philippines.
It was later suspected that Dridex malware was used for the attack.
On 15 March 2016, Deputy Director of Accounts and Budgeting Department of Bangladesh Bank Zubair Bin Huda lodged a case against unidentified people under Money Laundering Prevention Act at Motijheel police station.
