Filipino businessman denies links to money laundering scheme

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino businessman, one of six people under investigation for the alleged laundering of $81 million dollars thought to have been stolen from the U.S. account of Bangladesh's central bank, on Friday asked authorities to unfreeze his bank accounts, denying involvement in the scheme.

In a signed affidavit to the National Bureau of Investigations, Go said a branch manager at the Rizal Commercial Bank told him the two invalid accounts had been set up to handle a large U.S. dollar remittance allegedly coming from Bangladesh that was converted into Philippine pesos with the approval of the bank's head office.

Go's lawyer, Ramon Esguerra, told reporters that his client was not questioning the freeze on the accounts Go says are bogus, but is challenging its application to his other, legitimate accounts.