The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has scored a victory in going after a former banker involved in a 2008 deposit insurance fraud.
In a statement, the PDIC said the Court of Appeals (CA) Manila 11th Division upheld the decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board to administratively indict former Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Bacolod branch manager Andrew Jereza “for conducting banking business in an unsafe and unsound manner.”
The CA decision, dated July 12, 2021, upheld the Monetary Board’s resolution directing the filing of a formal charge against Jereza.
The CA found that there is a prima facie case against the former banker for conducting banking business in an unsafe or unsound manner under Section 37 of Republic Act No. 7653 or The New Central Bank Act and Section 56 of RA No. 8791 or The General Banking Law of 2000, “for having accepted the second-endorsed crossed checks for deposit to an account other than the payees of those checks.”
The PDIC said that on various dates in December 2008, and on February 26, 2010, the Monetary Board ordered the closure of 13 different banking institutions collectively referred to as the “Legacy Banks.”
The “Legacy Banks” had a total of 49 banking units with an estimated insured deposit of P14.1 billion, according to the deposit insurer.
As deposit insurer, the PDIC said it paid the deposit insurance claims of concerned depositors through crossed checks “For Payee’s Account Only” drawn against the state-owned deposit insurer’s depository account with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
“However, some 683 returned cleared checks in the total amount of P98.73 million paid to 86 depositors were deposited to a single account with RCBC-Bacolod Branch via second endorsement,” it said.
In its decision, the CA agreed with the Monetary Board that with the deposit of the subject checks in a single account in a questionable manner, there exists prima facie case against Jereza for acts constituting doing business in an unsafe and unsound manner.
In a related case, the Supreme Court, in a decision dated June 28, 2018 (G.R. No. 234616), after finding probable cause for estafa and money laundering, directed the Department of Justice to file criminal information against the depositor in whose account the 683 crossed checks were deposited.
The PDIC said it continues with its pursuit of justice against erring bank owners, officers and unscrupulous parties who take advantage of the deposit insurance system for their personal gain.
The state-owned deposit insurer said its vigorous legal actions are critical in protecting the interests of the depositors and the Deposit Insurance Fund, PDIC’s funding source for payment of deposit insurance, and in deterring other parties from taking advantage of the deposit insurance system. —KBK, GMA News
CA upheld Monetary Board decision vs. ex-bank manager –PDIC
Source: News Panda Philippines
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