In this photo taken on March 12, 2013, employees at the giant Solaire Resort and Casino Manila practice at gaming tables ahead of the opening on March 16, 2013. Solaire Manila Resorts is the first of four enormous entertainment venues slated to rise over a giant chunk of prime, reclaimed land that industry and government leaders expect will attract millions of cashed-up Asian tourists. ©AFP PHOTO / Jay DIRECTO
MANILA (Mabuhay) – That’s a cover-up. This is how Senator Sergio Osmena III described a statement by the PAGCOR chief that investigators should “look elsewhere” regarding an alleged $100 million money laundering operation done through Philippine casinos.
Osmena, author of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, took exception to the statement of PAGCOR chairman Cristino “Bong” Naguiat that casinos are the riskiest place to launder money and that investigators must look elsewhere.
“I don’t know why he is saying that because that’s a cover-up. It is very easy to go into a casino and buy chips. Everybody who goes into a casino knows that,” the senator said.
The senator noted that casinos do not give receipts when people buy chips from casinos. There are also no questions asked about the source of the funds.
“Wala ngang resibo. Dapat meron so there is traceability,” he said.
He added: “Very non-discriminating ang casinos. They don’t care where the money comes from. Just lose it in the casinos.”
Naguiat explained that there are two kinds of chips – the noncash negotiable and the cash negotiable. He said the nonnegotiable chips refer to money remitted through the bank accounts of casinos for a specific player.
The Pagcor chief said any amount that lands in casino bank accounts is presumed good money because it had gone through the banking system. He also said only a player’s winnings can be converted to cash.
Osmena earlier revealed senators and casino operators lobbied to exclude casinos from the list of institutions covered by the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The Senate has postponed to March 14 an investigation into the alleged money laundering of $100 million in stolen bank funds to Philippine casinos.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer Report said some $100 million were stolen by hackers from a bank overseas and then coursed to a RCBC-Makati City branch through a transaction handled by one of its branch managers with foreign exchange broker Philrem.
The funds were then converted to pesos, consolidated into a single corporate account of a Chinese-Filipino businessman and then used to either “buy chips” or “pay for casino losses” incurred at several casinos before being moved back to bank accounts overseas.
Osmena said those invited to the investigation are Naguiat, officials of the Anti-Money Laundering Council and casinos such as Midas Hotel, Solaire, City of Dreams and Resorts World.(MNS)