Hossen Sohel of DOT :
A Philipp-ine court yesterday held a former bank manager guilty on eight counts of money laundering, the first conviction in one of the world’s largest cyber heists, in which $81 million was stolen from Bangladesh’s central bank nearly three years ago, reports Reuters.
The regional court sentenced Maia Deguito, a former branch manager at Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), to a jail term ranging from 32 to 56 years, with each count carrying four to seven years.
She was also ordered to pay a total fine of about $109 million.
In February 2016, unknown criminals used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal the funds from the Bangladesh’s central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The money was sent to accounts at a branch of RCBC in Manila then headed by Deguito, before it disappeared into the casino industry in the Philippines.
“Her declaration in open court that she has nothing to do with these transactions was a complete and comprehensive lie,” the court said in its 26-page ruling.
Deguito facilitated and coordinated and corroborated in the execution and implementation of the illegal bank transactions, the court added.
“The conviction of Deguito is consistent with the bank’s position that it is the victim in this situation and that Deguito is a rogue employee,” RCBC spokeswoman Thea Daep said in a statement.