Philrem faces money laundering charges

MANILA, Philippines — Philrem Service Corp. is facing scrutiny anew after the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the filing of four counts of money laundering against the owners of the remittance firm.

The DOJ resolution is in connection with the $81-million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist in 2016.

In a 23-page resolution dated Dec. 12, 2019, Justice Undersecretary Adrian Ferdinand Sugay reversed an earlier DOJ ruling dismissing the charges against the remittance firm’s owners.

Philrem is a covered institution under Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

According to the DOJ, Philrem failed to report to the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) the series of suspicious transactions that led to the Bangladesh Central Bank heist almost four years ago.

“Since Philrem is a covered institution under RA 9160, as amended, its officers are and should be charged with full knowledge of the corporation’s legal obligations. That (their)  suspicious transaction report said so little despite what the law very clearly required betrays an attempt on the part of the corporation’s responsible officers to conceal, what is, in truth, a very irregular, if not downright illegal, transaction,” the order said.

“Surely, the responsible officers of Philrem owed the public a much more comprehensive, more substantive suspicious transaction report,” the DOJ said.

The Bangladesh cyber heist happened in February 2016 when unknown criminals used fraudulent orders on the Swift payments system to steal $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The money was sent to fictitious accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s (RCBC) Jupiter branch in Makati City. It went to local casinos through Philrem.

Meanwhile, the DOJ also upheld an earlier recommendation by government lawyers to dismiss the charges against casino junket operators Kam Sin Wong also known as Kim Wong and Weikang Xu for insufficient evidence.

DOJ said there's not enough proof or corroborating evidence to establish their participation or knowledge in the laundering operation and the nature of the subject funds.