Philippines: Cops arrest bank officer for unauthorised transfer of USD 338,000

Police identified the suspect as Mariebel Osorio, 41, head of Cash Section of Union Bank Ortigas Branch.

Picture for representation
A worker counts one thousand pesos bills inside a money changer in Manila. Reuters

Police authorities arrested a bank cash unit officer this week for allegedly transferring the amount of USD 338 thousand from the Bank's Ortigas Branch in Pasig City to another branch in Caloocan City. Pasig and Caloocan cities are within Metro Manila in the Northern Philippines.

Police identified the suspect as Mariebel Osorio, 41, head of Cash Section of Union Bank Ortigas Branch. Investigators handling the case said that Osorio will be charged with qualified theft for making such unauthorized transfer.

Osorio was arrested by police authorities in Barangay San Antonio in Ortigas district in Pasig City and according to police authorities, the lady bank officer did not resist arrest when police officers nabbed her.

Police District Director, Romulo Sapitula, said that a senior bank official who requested anonymity sought the help of the police upon learning that Osorio facilitated the illegal transfer of USD 338 from her bank branch to another branch.

The authority said that the suspect made the unauthorized transfer to prevent the bank's audit team from discovering the cash she earlier used from the bank.

A Universal Bank is known as the provider of E-cards of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). It is also the seventh largest bank in the Philippines in terms of assets and is known as one of the most stable banks in the country.

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