If you’ve ever wondered what US$4.5 million looks like in cold, hard cash — here’s your answer!
Casino junket operator Kim Wong last week fulfilled his promise to turn over US$4.63 million in cash to the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) as part of an investigation into the hacking theft of US$81 million from Bangladesh Bank in February.
The money is what remains of US$5 million and 400 million pesos (US$8.7 million) that was delivered to Mr Wong’s junket account at Solaire Resort and Casino following the theft and had since been sitting in the accounts of two Chinese high rollers.
The theft has evolved into the largest money laundering case ever uncovered in the Philippines and involves staff from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) and money changer Philrem Services Corp.
Incredibly, officials remain hopeful of recovering up to US$38 million of the stolen funds thanks in part to the efforts of Solaire which seized around 107 million pesos of suspected laundered funds from the accounts of its clients. Solaire security also entered a number of hotel rooms of its clientele and recovered the equivalent of 1.3 million pesos worth of cash in various foreign denominations.
The Chinese clients were unable to be detained and have since left the Philippines.
