Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday said the head of Metrobank’s corporate services management falsified documents to defraud a client of at least ₱900 million.
Maria Victoria Lopez was arrested by the NBI agents on July 17 after she allegedly tried to transfer ₱2.25 million in interest payments for an unauthorized loan.
Norman Aguirre, the NBI agent on the case, said Lopez made two loans worth ₱900 million and ₱850 million on the client’s behalf without the latter’s knowledge and approval.
“Based on the presentation of the bank, they discovered the anomaly when their employee discovered the falsified letter directing the bank to issue a manager’s check in favor of an individual payee,” Aguirre said, “There were irregularities in the document itself indicating falsification such as different fonts, dubious signatures, etcetera.”
Lopez caught the bank’s attention when she directed the issuance of a manager’s check to an individual, which was a red flag because such checks should only be issued to corporate clients.
“The bank conducted an internal inquiry and confirmed that the client has a loan with the bank or if they have draw-downs against the credit line. Much to their dismay, they discovered such loans are unknown to the client,” Aguirre said.
Lopez, who had worked for Metrobank for over 30 years, has been charged with qualified theft, falsification, and violation of the General Banking Law.
The NBI said it was conducting a follow-up investigation to determine if Lopez acted with the help of other people to commit the fraud.
Metrobank said its operations would continue despite the incident, and that no other customers had been affected.
Meanwhile, the Bankers Association of the Philippines said it was confident that Metrobank would enforce the remedial measures needed to ensure that a similar incident would not happen again.
