Ongpin files charges against AMLC head

MANILA, Philippines - Business tycoon Roberto V. Ongpin filed Friday another criminal complaint, this time against Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) executive director Vicente Aquino, signaling to his critics he will not take things lightly especially when his reputation is at stake.

Fresh from filing graft charges against central bank deputy governor Nestor Espenilla, Ongpin, through lawyer Alex Poblador, lodged before the Department of Justice a complaint against Aquino for violating the anti-graft law due to the latter’s alleged gross inexcusable negligence.

Ongpin accused Aquino of perjury, which is defined as the willful giving of false, misleading or incomplete testimony under oath.

“Like Espenilla, Aquino has caused my reputation the gravest damage by his signing an ex-parte petition for a freeze order and swearing to that petition under oath.  As I’ve previously said, this action, which is totally without basis is never taken lightly by anyone, not my international business partners, and certainly not by the investing public, which has lost for me several billions in market value of my listed shares.  I cannot allow AMLC’s Aquino to take this most serious action, whether deliberate or not, and let him get away with it,” Ongpin said.

“My reputation has been tarnished by bureaucrats who have not done their homework properly.  I have spent a lifetime building it and I will not let anyone get away with reckless and unfounded accusations that undermine a lifetime of hard work,” he pointed out.

“I have decided to file these cases as a signal of protest and warning to would-be detractors who have no basis in making false accusations to get away with it.  In making this criminal complaints and probably civil charges too, I earnestly hope that I am making a contribution to my fellow private sector colleagues who are in the same boat and can be accused without any basis and see their reputation damaged.”

According to Ongpin, Aquino swore under oath that the two loans obtained by the former trade minister from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) were undercollateralized, contradicting DBP’s own admission that the loan was adequately collateralized by Ongpin’s shares in Philweb which have risen in market value.

Ongpin noted that the collateral that secured the DBP loan was almost thrice the value of the loan.

He also took exception to Aquino’s swearing under oath that the DBP loans to Ongpin violated banking laws, rules and regulations.

“Yet, Deputy Governor Espenilla himself acknowledged under oath (during a joint hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions) that from the point of view of the BSP as the regulator of banks, the sale by DBP of its 50 million Philex shares to a company beneficially owned and controlled by Ongpin was a “prudent” and “positive” transaction that resulted in “trading gains” for the bank,” Ongpin said.

Ongpin also defended himself against accusations that the DBP loan was behest, saying the state-run bank itself admitted that the loan was fully paid on Dec. 8, 2009 ahead of its maturity.

Under long settled jurisprudence, for a loan to be considered behest, it must be non-performing or in default.

Ongpin also pointed out that no less than the Ombudsman herself in a resolution dated Sept. 24 dropped the charges of undue injury against the DBP when she refused to find probable cause to charge any of the respondents with any offense relating to the purchase and sale of Philex shares in 2009.

In November 2012, Aquino verified and signed an ex-parte application for the issuance of a freeze order against the accounts of some 30 individuals and entities, including Ongpin, and his companies for the same DBP-Philex transactions.

As a result of the ex parte application, a freeze order was issued by the Court of Appeals last December.

Ongpin said the freeze order caused great damage and prejudice as seen in the sharp drop in the share prices of his listed firms Philweb, PBCom, Alphaland and Atok Big Wedge, resulting in up to P8 billion in losses.