đź“·BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. | bankero.com.ph
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said that the Central Bank is conducting a “post-mortem” investigation on the ghost employees in the banking system regulator and considering additional measures to avert this from happening again.
At the Tuesday Club forum in Mandaluyong City on Tuesday, June 4, Remolona admitted that the recent discovery of ghost employees within the central bank had left him stunned.
“I was flabbergasted. I didn’t think this kind of thing would happen at BSP,” Remolona said.
“We really need a good reputation and enough credibility just to make monetary policy work. Just to make bank and supervision work and a repayment system work,” Remolona added.
Remolona also mentioned that the Office of the President will decide on their fates.
In an attempt to calm markets, the BSP has confirmed that it is investigating six BSP employees in relation to the ghost employees scandal.
Last May 28, the BSP released a statement on the matter and reassured the public that the Monetary Board is still operational even though two of its members are allegedly involved in the ghost employee scandal.
Remolona underscored the importance of maintaining a solid reputation and credibility for the effective functioning of the monetary policy, bank supervision, and repayment systems.
“The investigation process should be concluded very soon. We want to recover the salaries of these guys. We acted as fast as we could… But also we have to observe due process,” the BSP governor said.
Remolona also detailed the procedural steps taken to ensure a thorough and fair investigation. He explained that an anonymous complaint must first be deemed credible and supported by evidence before a formal investigation is launched.
“There is a preliminary investigation to establish whether it’s a serious complaint, whether there’s any evidence that supports a complaint. So that preliminary investigation was concluded by December,” he noted.
Following the preliminary findings, Remolona confirmed the need for a comprehensive investigation.The investigation has already identified four ghost employees and their supervisors, who vouched for their presence.
“Since then, we identified four of those employees. And then we also identified their supervisors. Because the supervisors apparently were the ones who vouched for the presence of these employees. So the two supervisors were also put under investigation,” Remolona said.
“Civil Service doesn’t allow us to tell you the names … but the investigation process should go through very soon. We’re already in the disciplinary process. We want to recover the salaries,” Remolona added. (TCSP)
