MANILA (2nd UPDATE) - Casino junket operator Kam Sin Wong, also known as Kim Wong, returned another P38 million in cash to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Monday.

The money, which is part of the missing $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, will be kept for safekeeping and will eventually be turned over to Bangladesh officials.

In a letter addressed to AMLC chair and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., the lawyers of Wong said the P38,280,000 represents "the funds abandoned by Gao Shuhua in Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company Limited (EHLCL) and/or Midas Casino."

They stressed the return of the funds "should not be interpreted or construed, directly or indirectly, as an admission by EHLCL or Kim Wong of any guilt or participation in or complicity to the offense for which Kim Wong is being charged by AMLC."

The letter was signed by Wong's legal counsels, Victor Fernandez, Inocencio Ferrer and Kristopher James Purisima.

The turnover of the cash, which came in 500- and 1,000-peso bills, was witnessed by AMLC Secretariat executive director Julia Bacay-Abad, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc, and Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes.

It took AMLC about two hours to count the cash. Wong's lawyers said two 500-peso bills were found to be counterfeit and had to be replaced.

$5.5-M RETURNED

Last week, Wong returned $4.63 million to AMLC.

LOOK: US$4.6M in a suitcase turned over to AMLC

This brings the total amount recovered by the Philippine government to about $5.5 million, or only 7 percent of the $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank.

The recovered money is stored in a vault at the BSP compound in Manila, which also contains the source code for the upcoming elections.

At the last Senate hearing, Wong admitted that Gao gave him P450 million as payment for his debt. Wong has yet to return this amount, but told the Senate he was willing to return the money if the government tells him to do so.

Fernandez said Wong is still raising the funds and expects to turn over the remaining P450 million in less than a month.

Wong claimed that he was unaware the money Gao gave him was from a questionable source.

He also accused remittance company Philrem of keeping $17 million, but its president, Salud Bautista has denied this, saying they remitted all the cash last February.

Philrem said it will present receipts of the transactions in the next Senate hearing.

'FOREIGN SYNDICATE'

Wong, a certain Weikang Xu, and RCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito are facing charges of money laundering filed by AMLC before the Department of Justice.

Senator TG Guingona, the chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, believes that a foreign syndicate is behind the $81-million dollar money laundering heist.

He said the scam, which began with the hacking of the US account of the Bangladesh central bank, could not have been executed without the resources of an established criminal organization.

The senator believes Gao and casino junket agent Ding Zhize are key to uncovering the heist.

Wong tagged the two as the ones who allegedly brought in the stolen money into the Philippines.

READ: Kim Wong tags 2 foreigners in $81-M heist

The Senate hearing on the money laundering scandal is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, April 5. -- With a report from Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News