Philrem finally shows up at money laundering probe

Risingbd Desk: The messenger of controversial remittance firm PhilRem Service Corp., who allegedly delivered part of the $81 million stolen from Bangladesh to casino junket operators, finally appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on Tuesday.

Blue Ribbon committee chairman Senator Teofisto Guingona III said Mark Palmares might be able to shed light on the flow of the money, which was transferred to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch in Jupiter Makati then withdrawn and delivered, through PhilRem, to the junket operators, as well as help determine whether $17 million in the stolen funds is still with PhilRem as claimed in earlier hearings.

The funds were stolen by hackers from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. The hackers allegedly intended to steal as much as $1 billion but the transfers were aborted when they made a typographical error.

At the last two hearings of the Senate committee, Salud Bautista, PhilRem president said Palmares failed to appear because he was sick, although she submitted his affidavit. Guingona nevertheless ordered a subpoena issued to compel him to appear personally.

Clarence Chung, chairman and president of Melco Crown Philippines/City of Dreams Casino did not show up at the hearing. He was represented by his VP for finance, Adrian Au, and lawyer Jomini Nazareno of the Romulo Law Offices.

Jason Go, a car dealer in Makati, was also absent.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/DHAKA/Apr 19, 2016/Shahed/Amirul