Members of National Bureau of Investigation-Anti Fraud Division arrested Maria Victoria ‘Marivic’ Lopez, head of the Metrobanks’ Corporate Service Management for alleged qualified theft, falsification and violation of the General Banking Law on a entrapment operation during press briefing in NBI office, Manila. INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
A senior executive has been arrested and charged for defrauding Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) in a scandal that sent the lender’s shares tumbling on Friday.
National Bureau of Investigation officials presented Maria Victoria Lopez, a vice president at the corporate services unit of Metrobank’s head office in Makati City, to reporters on Friday afternoon, hours after the banks and financial intermediaries committee of the House of Representatives announced an inquiry into the fraud that hit the Philippines’ second-largest bank.
NBI officials said Lopez, who appeared at the news conference with her face covered with a shawl, was suspected of stealing P1.75 billion in loans from Metrobank.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer was the first to report on the fraud, stating in its Friday edition that Metrobank, owned and controlled by George Ty, may have lost as much as P2.5 billion after the suspect allegedly funneled disbursed loans into fictitious accounts created in the name of one of the bank’s biggest corporate clients, Universal Robina Corp. (URC).
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A trusted employee of the bank for 30 years, earning a monthly salary of P250,000, Lopez was arrested on Monday while trying to move the stolen money to an unspecified personal account, NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said.
