OP ED EDITORIALS & CARTOONS: …   The black hole

A bank branch manager is facing up to 56 years in prison after being convicted of eight counts of money laundering through the bank that she used to supervise. Maia Deguito was also fined $109 million by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 149 Judge Cesar Untalan.

Deguito is out on bail while her appeal is pending. The RTC found her guilty of facilitating in 2016 the laundering of $81 million in stolen funds to several accounts under four fictitious names in the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch on Jupiter street in Makati where she was the manager.

RCBC said Deguito’s conviction on Thursday showed that the bank was a victim in the case. Deguito was found guilty of allowing the consolidation of the multiple accounts into one US dollar account in the name of Chinese-Filipino businessman William Go. The dollars were subsequently withdrawn, converted into peso and funneled to two casinos and a junket operator. The $81 million was stolen by cyber hackers from the account of the Bangladesh government with the US Federal Reserve in New York.

.

.

Bangladesh is still waiting for the return of its money and the conviction of other individuals implicated in the money laundering. Those behind the actual cyber heist have not been identified. Filipinos, meanwhile, are waiting for more reforms to plug the loopholes that made the laundering possible. At the height of the scandal, the Philippines was described as a “black hole” for financial crimes.

The laundering was facilitated by the exclusion of casinos from coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Politicians and lobby groups blocked the inclusion, even if it put the country at risk of remaining on the “gray list” of the Financial Action Task Force as an international haven for dirty money. One positive outcome of the cyber heist scandal was that casinos were finally included in the AMLA coverage in July 2017.

Philippine laws and regulations, however, remain conveniently opaque for those who need to park ill-gotten money in the banking system. Reforms to address this problem should be a high priority for any administration that is battling drug trafficking, corruption and terrorism and wants to intensify the campaign against tax evasion. The conviction of Deguito should spur more movement toward the necessary reforms.

MAIA DEGUITO
.

ASEANEWS EDITORIAL & CARTOONS:

7.1.DAILY TRIBUNE-  Hot potato- DAILY TRIBUNE / – CONCEPT
– Manila’s lost glory

7.2.  Manila Bulletin – Japan needs foreign workers in many fields

e-cartoon-nov-7-2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on Japan’s parliament to enact a law, supported by the country’s business leaders, aimed at getting more foreign…
.
ADS by Cloud 9:
.
– SPACE RESERVE FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT –
.

.

 7.3. MANILA STANDARD –  Losing the art of the deal

7.4  The Manila Times – ….THE MOST TELEGENIC HYPOCHONDRIAC

 7.5.  The Philippine Daily Inquirer –Timely law on HIV and AIDS
.

7.7.  Pilipino STAR Ngayon –  Pulis at sundalo, bawal tomoma sa publiko

 .
7.8   The Straits Times

The Straits Times says

Overcoming boundaries to better ties

.

Hopes of a resolution to the air and maritime tensions between Singapore and Malaysia have been raised after a meeting between their foreign ministers earlier this week. The separate disputes, over territorial waters off Tuas and airspace management over southern Johor, put a strain on ties between two countries which have had close and strong relations rooted in geography, history, society and culture. Yet, for several weeks recently, the longstanding relationship was again overshadowed by dissension that touched on Singapore’s territorial integrity, including the sight of Malaysian government vessels anchored in Singapore’s waters. Singaporeans could have been forgiven for wondering what had gone wrong so seriously, so suddenly.

That ominous mood was lifted with the announcement on Tuesday that Malaysia will suspend immediately its permanent restricted area over Pasir Gudang for flights, while Singapore will do the same for new aircraft landing procedures for Seletar Airport. The arrangement will be for a month in the first instance. Also, the transport ministers of both countries should meet soon for discussions to ensure the safety and efficiency of civil aviation. On maritime issues, a high-level working group will be set up to study and discuss legal and operational matters in order to de-escalate the situation on the ground, and provide a basis for further discussions and negotiations. Oddly, amid this sign of progress, came the social media posting on Wednesday of Johor Menteri Besar Osman Sapian visiting Malaysian government vessels moored in Singapore’s territorial waters.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/overcoming-boundaries-to-better-ties

.

9.0  Bangkok Post –
EDITORIAL – COLUMN
Make fishing sustainable 
,
.
The lifting this week of the yellow-card sanction imposed by the European Union (EU) shows that efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in Thailand have really paid off.
Read more:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1609094/make-fishing-sustainable
.

ADS by Cloud 9:
.
– SPACE RESERVE FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT –
.

.

All photographs, news, editorials, opinions, information, data, others have been taken from the Internet ..aseanews.net | [email protected] |.For comments, Email to :D’Equalizer | [email protected] | Contributor

It's only fair to share...Share on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterEmail this to someonePrint this page