It has been a frustrating effort for Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes to reclaim and send

home at least part of the $81 million stolen from his government which is now in the
possession of the Philippine central bank.
He aired his frustration at yesterdays resumption of the hearing on the issue by the Senate
Blue Ribbon committee.
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) executive director Julia Bacay-Abad noted that the
$4.63 million and P38.2 million turned over by Chinese-Filipino casino junket operator Kim
Wong are being kept by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in its vaults for safekeeping only.
Abad said that there was no expressed consent from the camp of Wong to turn over the funds to
the government of Bangladesh and so the AMLC is in a bind as to how to deal with the matter.
This is very new to us today because earlier we have a document where they told us to accept
the money and that is why they called us to the AMLC office and we received the money,
Gomes told reporters after the hearing.
He recalled being present with the embassys second secretary when the $4.63 million was
turned over by Wong.
We signed the receipt of $4.63 million a few days ago by the AMLC and my embassy second
secretary he counted the money and then I signed it, he said.
I signed the paper of the receipt and then yesterday we had another P38.280 million, so that
was also counted by my embassy representative and fortunately at that time we also had two of
our Bangladesh Bank officials present during that transaction. It was handed over to us and we
received it and then its in the vault, he added.
Gomes said the government of Bangladesh was moving ahead with the recovery of the other
amounts, including the P450 million promised by Wong within the next 15 to 30 days.
He said that the embassy had made an arrangement with the Standard Chartered Bank to wire
the funds to Bangladesh when this development came up.
Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III has arranged a meeting today with the
AMLC and representatives of the Bangladesh embassy to discuss the matter.
Abad said the process of turning over the funds to Bangladesh should include the issuance of a
written consent by Wong.
Without this written consent, Abad said the government may have to resort to filing a civil
forfeiture case and if no one emerges to claim the funds, these could then be turned over to the
Bangladesh government.

So were moving ahead and now this has come up so we will discuss tomorrow and Im sure
that this matter will be resolved tomorrow, Gomes said.
Pleadings
for forfeiture
Abad said they are preparing the pleadings for the petition for civil forfeiture that would be
filed before a lower court in Manila next week.
Regardless of where the money went, that should be recovered, she added.
She said Wongs lawyers Inocencio Ferrer Jr. and Victor Fernandez agreed to turn over the
amount to the ALMC for safekeeping.
The AMLC should not give the funds to the claimant without due process, Ferrer said during
the hearing.
Abad replied that the acknowledgement receipts for the $4.63 million and the P38.28 million
were also signed by Gomes.
It will appear now that their intention is just to turn over to the AMLC, but our understanding
is to give it back to Bangladesh. I think everybody heard that. We just want to make a
clarification that he has no objection to the physical turnover of the money to the Bangladesh
government. It is just a physical turnover because effectively the Bangladesh government
already received it because he (Gomes) signed the acknowledgment receipt, she added.
However, she explained the lawyers of Wong are now hesitant to turn over the abandoned
funds to the Bangladesh government.
The end of the hearing gave Gomes the opportunity to personally ask Abad about the money.
But you called me, and say within half an hour, the money is coming. You have to receive it,
you have to sign the receipt of the funds. You told us, that you have to witness the counting of
each and every dollar, Gomes told Abad, after the hearing.
Right now I think both parties do not have an agreement, lets see how we can solve this,
Guingona told Abad and