MANILA – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) President and CEO Lorenzo V. Tan filed civil and criminal cases on Monday against former RCBC Jupiter-Makati branch manager Maia Deguito.
The criminal charges – libel and false testimony – and complaint for damages amounting to Php32 million were filed before the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
In a statement, Tan said Deguito made “scurrilous remarks” after she claimed that he (Tan) knew about the laundering of the USD81-million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank in February 2016, which was coursed through RCBC’s Jupiter branch before it was remitted to several individuals, who are now facing money laundering charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In his complaint, Tan said Deguito’s allegations “were products of mere assumptions.”
“The imputation of the foregoing acts diminished, if not destroyed, my reputation as a banker,” he said.
The RCBC chief explained that his profession “is based on utmost trust and confidence between myself and the Bank’s clients” thus, he “have striven hard to keep my reputation from being sullied as it is my source of livelihood and productivity as as a professional.”
He noted that Deguito’s statements in media interviews, the Senate hearings and in her March 7, 2016 reply to the bank’s Show Cause Memorandum “is a clear ploy to create a defense for herself against the various criminal accusations made against her by implicating me as a complicit in her caper.”
He said the charges were filed to protect his honor as he “have no other asset but my reputation.”
“Even if her accusations against me are found untrue, my reputation, which I had carefully built and guarded for almost thirty-five (35) years, has already been irretrievably tainted,” he said.
“In fact, to clear my name, I have taken a voluntary leave just to avoid any perception of undue influence on my part in the ongoing internal investigation by RCBC on the matter,” he added.