MANILA – The signatures of businessman William Go in his dollar and peso accounts used in transactions related to the $81-million money laundering heist do not belong to businessman William Go, an Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) official said on Thursday.

Maria Celia Fernandez-Estavillo, head of legal and regulatory affairs of RCBC, said the accounts that were opened under Go's name bore signatures that did not match the signatures of Go, a businessman engaged in customs brokerage.

“We have done an independent verification and the addresses [of Go] are false in the two accounts. We did an internal verification and the signatures of his peso and dollar accounts do not seem to match his other signatures in his other account in our [RCBC] Trinoma branch," Estavillo said in the Senate hearing investigating the country's biggest cyber-heist.

“For all three, these are the account opening forms for the peso account, the dollar account, and the withdrawal slip, the findings are: With a high degree of certainty, the questioned signatures allegedly signed by one Mr. William S. Go were not signed by one and the same person and was therefore a result of simulated forgery,” she added.

Go earlier denied having opened any accounts with RCBC Jupiter branch, and accused bank manager Maia Santos-Deguito of opening the accounts without his knowledge.

Based on RCBC's internal investigation, $22.7 million entered Go's account on February 5, 2016. A total of P20 million was also withdrawn from the account.

According to Estavillo, Deguito assured the head office in a show cause letter "that the accounts of Go were authentic and belonged to Mr. William So Go."

“She [Deguito] said that she called him [Go], and he gave instructions to her to open a dollar account and directed her to transmit funds to certain accounts,” Estavillo told the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.

Estavillo said that based on Deguito's statements, Deguito sent her messenger to Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City to have the account opening forms signed by Go.

Deguito then ordered her assistant, Angela Torres, to load the P20 million cash in Go's vehicle and asked him to sign the withdrawal slip, she said.

However, Estavillo said an affidavit from Romualdo Agarrado, customer service head at RCBC Jupiter branch, showed that the money was not placed in Go's vehicle, but in a vehicle owned by Deguito.

Estavillo said Agarrado also said in his affidavit that he informed Deguito about a freeze request sent by the bank's settlements department, but it was ignored by Deguito, who claimed that she had authorization.

The fund transfer to Go's account was then rushed in a 30-minute window, according to Agarrado's affidavit.

Estavillo said, again citing Agarrado's affidavit, that the customer service head overheard Deguito saying, "Mabuti nang i-process ko ‘yan kaysa mamatay ako at pamilya ko."

On February 12, 2016, Deguito gathered the entire branch staff in a private home, Agarrado said, in an attempt to bribe them.

Estavillo, citing Agarrado's affidavit, said that Deguito was heard saying, “Marami akong abogado para sa kanya, magagaling lahat sa AMLA [Anti-Money Laundering Act], huwag kayong mag-alala."

Deguito has yet to answer allegations against her, saying she will tell all in an executive session.

RCBC has filed a money laundering complaint against Deguito after several accounts were used in pumping into the Philippine banking system funds stolen from the central bank of Bangladesh's account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Her lawyer, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, questioned the timing of the case, hinting that his client is being set up as the "fall guy" in the multi-million dollar heist.