MANILA - Senator Teofisto Guingona III revealed Tuesday that
Philrem Services Corp. presented seemingly "fabricated" receipts for the cash deliveries involving $81-million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank and laundered in Philippine banks and casinos.

Speaking to radio dzMM, Guingona also questioned the large house of a Philrem messenger tagged in the scandal.

The senator said the Philrem acknowledgement receipts were supposedly signed by Weikang Xu, a junket casino junket agent who allegedly received part of the stolen money.

Xu's supposed signatures on the receipts, however, are apparently not the same as the signatures on his passport and application for Philippine visa.

"Klaro na iba iyung pirma e. Hindi parehong tao ang nag-pirma niyan. Kung titingnan mo iyung acknowledgement receipts na ini-submit ng Philrem, several acknowledgement receipts, all the same handstrokes, all the same handwriting," said Guingona, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

He added: "[The] feeling that you get is it was all manufactured in one day, just for the sake of compliance with the committee."

Guingona said that blown-up images of these receipts will be presented Tuesday in the continuation of Senate hearing on the scandal.

Philrem and casino junket operator Kim Wong, a business associate of Xu, have contradicted each other regarding the cash deliveries and the whereabouts of some $17 million.

Phirem president Salud Bautista and her husband, Philrem treasurer Michael "Concon" Bautista, have insisted that they do not have the "missing" $17 million, as claimed by Wong. The couple said they delivered all $30 million in cash -- in the amounts of P600 million and $18 million -- to Xu, a business associate of Wong.

Mark Palmares, a messenger of the remittance company, was invited to the investigation to shed light on the conflicting statements between the Bautista couple and Wong. Palmares has failed twice to attend Senate hearings because he was reportedly sick.

MESSENGER'S MANSION?

In the interview, Guingona also questioned pictures of a large house that lawmakers found through Google Earth on the supposed address of Palmares.

"Ang laki-laki ng bahay. Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng bahay ng delivery man na ang laki-laki ng bahay," he said about the supposed residence of Palmeras, located near the Securities and Exchange Commission's office.

Guingona added that the subpoena they sent to the address of Palmares was received by the messenger's security guard.

"Ngayon lang tayo nakakita ng delivery man na may security guard sa bahay niya," he remarked.

Lawmakers earlier called out Philrem for the absence of Palmeras in the last hearings, and for the firm's "selective" and "changing" testimonies.

Guingona said that the firm is "digging a deeper hole for itself" as they continue to presenting conflicting statements and suspicious documents.

'VAGUE' HOLD ORDERS

Aside from Philrem, the Senate is also probing the possible liability of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation for allowing the transfer of the Bangladesh funds into four accounts at the RCBC Jupiter, Makati branch on February 5.

The funds credited to the four accounts were consolidated into alleged account of businessman William Go, converted into pesos by Philrem, withdrawn and transferred to Xu and local casinos in a matter of days -- even before the Bangladesh Bank could alert RCBC over the cyberheist.

READ: $81M heist: The money trail

RCBC argued in the previous hearing that they could have immediately held the stolen money if only the Bangladesh Bank sent clear "high priority messages."

READ: Stop payment orders from Bangladesh 'vague' - RCBC

Guingona, however, is not convinced that Bangladesh sent "vague" alerts.

"Tingin ko, hindi e. Kasi ang nakalagay doon sa mensahe, 'stop urgent'. Ako, nakakaintindi ng 'stop' at 'urgent'. Tapos nakalagay request for holding of funds because nakalagay, 'We think the transaction is contrary to the Anti-Money Laundering Law. Para sa akin, klaro iyun," he said.

The Senate will continue its investigation of the scandal today. Watch the livestream of the hearing at: www.livestream.com/anctelevision.